Norval, Ontario

Norval is an unincorporated community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada. Situated on the Credit River, it is located approximately 55 km west of Toronto and is part of the Regional Municipality of Halton.

Norval is believed to take its name from the Scottish play Douglas by poet John Home.

History

Around 1820 James McNab and his family arrived and built a grist and saw mill on the Credit River.

In 1836 the Post Office was established. Earlier names for the hamlet were McNabsville and McNab's Mill.

In 1838, the mills were sold to Peter Adamson.

Norval became a thriving village, complete with a broom factory, ashery, bakery, woolen and flax mills, carriage works, a blacksmith and harness shops, brass foundry, general stores, several hotels, a Mechanics' Institute and an Orange Lodge. It was a main stop on the stagecoach ride from Guelph to Toronto.

In 1954 the grist mill was destroyed by Hurricane Hazel. In 1972 the remaining structures were removed to expand Highway 7.

Annual festivals and events

• Earth Week Celebrations - Third week in April
• Heritage Perennial Plant Sale - early May
• Montgomery Christmas - the weekend of November closest to her birthday (November 30)
• Lucy Maud Montgomery Seminars and Readings - various times during the year

Recreation and parks

• Willow Park Ecology Centre
• Lucy Maud Montgomery Garden
• Interpretive Gazebo & Signature Walk
• Norval Park
• Pioneer Cemeteries & McNab Park

Notable residents

• A.J. Casson, Group of Seven, painted Norval in the 1920s and 30's
• John Watkins, born in Norval, a former Ambassador to Russia. The book and movie Agent of Influence were inspired by events in his life..
• Egbert Charles Reed, married to Marion Elizabeth Noble of Norval, a 19th and 20th century portrait painter.
• John Wycliffe Lowes Forster, born in Norval, portrait painter. Many of his works hang in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Toronto, and Ottawa Parliament Buildings.
• David Marvin Carter, born in Norval, received a 2005 Blue Planet award from the International Hydropower Association and UNESCO for his Sechelt Creek Hydroelectric Power development in Sechelt, B.C. and 2005 winner of the Ron A. Dodokin Award.(http://regionalpower.com/ManagedSites/Sechelt/BluePlanetPrize/tabid/651/Default.aspx)
• Shannon Crawford, Olympic Gold Medalist, rowed to victory as a member of the Women's Eight 1992 crew in Barcelona Spain. Now retired from the sport.
• Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, lived in Norval for nine years.
• Terry Evans, born in Norval, Olympic Gold Medalist, Middle Weight Wrestling, British Empire Games, London, England, 1934.
• William M. Pomeroy,1976 F.A.I. World Class Aircraft Speed Record holder-Louis Bleriot Medal, Rome1977. The aircraft was his homebuilt RV 3.for Aircraft under 500 kg. Class C-1, over a closed 3 kilometer course for piston engined Aircraft at Brampton Airport,July 11/ 1976. - 319.28 KPH.
• Raymond Vincent Pomeroy. Master Decoy Carver, 1908- 1987 . Noted for his original decoy construction,and the many hundreds of examples he carved.

References

• Mike Filey. Toronto Sketches 5: The Way we Were.
• Halton County Railway Museum
• Guelph Radial Line
• Statistics Canada 2006 Census Data
• F.A.I. 1976 World Speed Records
• Ontario Decoys, R.B. Gates 1982

External links

• Town of Halton Hills
• Norval at Geographical Names of Canada