3: Parson’s Site (hydro-corridor and Black Creek)

Huron-Iroquois Village. C.W.Jeffreys, The Picture Gallery of Canadian History

The Parsons Site marks the remains of a 15th-century Iroquoian village.  A 15th-century visitor to the site would have found a well fortified village with over 10 longhouses inside.  Around the walls were fields growing the three sisters: corn, squash and beans.   During the 20th century this was one of Toronto’s most prominent sites for archaeology. 

For more information about the Parsons Site visit the University of Toronto/Ontario Archaeological Society website or Archaeological Services Inc.  The City of Toronto also has a good introduction to the area’s history before Europeans arrived.  Spacing magazine also has a short article on longhouses.

If you look up from the Parsons Site, the transmission tower on the south east side has a Christian cross on top of it.  The cross was put there after a hydro worker fell to his death a number of years ago.  In many ways the Parsons site is a sacred space to remember both the recent and distant past along the Black Creek.

There are also plans for a new bikeway along the hydro-corridor.  For more information visit the city’s Bikeway network plans.

From the Parsons site walk north around the apartment building.  Follow the western-most roads around the subdivision until you arrive at York University.

During the 2010 Jane’s Walk, Council Fire presented this site