Bay Area Restoration Council - My Hamilton Harbour Connection

We encourage you to share your connection to Hamilton Harbour with us. Young or old, native Hamiltonians or new residents, tell us your story!

My Harbour Connection

The theme of the 2005 annual community workshop was “Stories of the Bay: Personal Perspectives”. The workshop generated a tremendous number of stories as participants reflected on their personal connections to Hamilton Harbour. These stories were featured in subsequent issues of our newsletter, Bringing Back the Bay.

Our stories connect us to the Bay in ways we often don’t appreciate until we sit down and think about it. More importantly, our stories connect us to one another. Many of the tales we heard during the workshop, while unique and personal, evoked common feelings among those gathered – most notably, a sense of pride and passion for the Bay as it was in the past, as it is today, and as we envision its future.

"I grew up five minutes from LaSalle Park. Every summer, fall and spring would be spent playing at LaSalle Park, either at the Pavillion, in the woods or down at the docks. The most noticeable change in the Bay I’ve seen from being a child to now being an adult is the lack of dead fish that would float around the dock. The trails, the swans and the overall improvements have been fantastic!" Denise Kozak

"As a third generation Hamiltonian, (it’s) sad to say I haven’t thought of my connection until today. I definitely remember spending time at and on the Bay as a child, skating, hiking and tobogganing down to the water’s edge." Amy Luscombe

"I realized I do have a great connection to the Bay – Pier 4, now Bayfront Park is where I go to feel connected to nature, to feel a sense of peace." Michelle Sohaj

"My parents had a house on the north shore backing onto the Bay. There was some fill my father had put at the back of the lot so there was kind of a ramp down to the Bay. In the winter of 1934 or 1935, I talked a man who did work for my parents, kind of like a gardener, into driving the car out onto the ice. I got a rope and tied it on the back bumper, hitched on some old skis and we took off." Victoria Gudgeon

Victoria’s story was featured on the front page of the Hamilton Spectator! To read more about her wild ride on the Bay click here.



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