Brighton, Ontario

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Brighton is a town in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, approximately 150 kilometres east of Toronto and 100 kilometres west of Kingston. It is intersected by both Highway 401 and the former Ontario Provincial Highway 2.

Brighton is primarily an agricultural community, specializing in the farming of apples and production of new apple types. In late September, Brighton is host to Applefest, its largest yearly festival.

The Municipality of Brighton (formerly the Town of Brighton and Brighton Township) is home to approximately 9,500 inhabitants, with a higher than average percentage of those retired. This is normal, as the quiet, clean and friendly atmosphere of many smaller towns near lake Ontario tend to draw the elderly as popular places for retirement living. Many small hamlets surround the town, including Codrington, Carman, Hilton, Spring Valley and Smithfield.

Presqu'ile Provincial Park, just south of the town, is one of Brighton's most popular attractions. The park is noted for birdwatching and other nature-oriented activities.

[edit] Founding

Some light controversy extends to the original founders of the town in the mid 1800's. Although there is a monument commemorating the founding of Brighton to the surnamed "Simpson" families of the area, there is a great deal of counter-evidence pointing to the presence of the Scottish "Thayer" settlers in the area for some years before the arrival of the Simpsons. The Thayers, it is said, were harvesting apples from the fertile soil around the Brighton area well before the Simpsons had even arrived.