The Thames River Watershed: A Heritage
Landscape Guide
ISBN 1 – 894329 – 09 - 0
$22.95
168 pages
Full colour with numerous maps, photos and illustrations
Format: paper with French flaps 5.5” x 8.5”
Available from:
 Carolinian Canada Coalition office@carolinian.org or (519) 433-7077
 Upper Thames River Conservation Authority www.thamesriver.on.ca or (519) 451-2800
 Local bookstores
This guide to the Thames River watershed and region was written largely by the late Dr. Michael Troughton, who
had a love for the geography and culture of southwestern Ontario. The guide describes the natural and cultural
heritage of the Thames watershed and adjoining Lake Erie watersheds and some of the most interesting sites
within and close to the region. The purpose of the guide is twofold: to provide a background to the watershed
and to serve as an introduction to its exploration.
Through a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, CCC worked with the Thames Canadian Heritage River
Committee and Upper Thames River Conservation Authority to publish Michael’s book after he passed away.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part I
Natural Heritage of the Thames Watershed (Physiography, Geologic History, Climate and Vegetation Change,
The Hydrology of the Thames River, Soils and Vegetation, Plants and Animals)
Part II
Human Heritage of the Thames Watershed (The Paleo-Indian Period, The Archaic Period, The Woodland Period,
Late Pre-Contact to Post-European Contact Period, French and Indian Settlement, Early European Settlement, The
War of 1812-14, European Settlement, Agricultural and Rural Change: Confederation to World War I, Development
in the Inter-War Period, Rural and Urban Restructuring in the Post-World War II Era)
Part III Major Landscapes and Representative Sites
Perth County Country (The Ellice and Gad’s Hill Swamps, The Town of Mitchell, The Proposed Glengowan Dam,
German and Mennonite Settlement, The City of Stratford, Trout Creek and the Wildwood Lake
Conservation Area, The Town of St. Marys)
The South and Middle Thames in Oxford (The City of Woodstock and Pittock Lake, Beachville and Ingersoll,
Mount Elgin Ridges, The Middle Thames, Embro and Thamesford, The Dorchester Swamp and
Dorchester Village)
The Thames as London’s River (The Plover Mills Corridor of the North Thames, Fanshawe Conservation area and
Fanshawe Pioneer Village, Farming Landscapes in Middlesex County, Pre-Historic London, The
Forks, London’s Core, London’s Heritage Districts, London’s Riparian Parklands, London’s
Environmentally Significant Areas (ESAs), Komoka Provincial Park, Delaware Village and Vicinity)
The Lower Thames in Elgin and Middlesex (The Southwold Earthworks, The Chippewa First Nation Community,
The Munsee-Delaware First Nation Community, The Oneida First Nation Community, Longwoods
Road Conservation Area, Talbot Creek and Port Talbot, Tobacco Lands, Southwest Middlesex,
Skunk’s Misery, Western Elgin County)
Valley, Ridge and Shore in Chatham-Kent (Fairfield and Moraviantown, Bothwell, Thamesville, Cash-Crop
Heartland, The Buxton Settlement, The Ridge Settlements: Highgate, Ridgetown and Blenheim,
The Rondeau Area, The Talbot Trail)
Chatham to the Mouth of the Thames (The City of Chatham, Dikes and Drains, The French Presence in the
Lower Thames Watershed, Lighthouse Cove, The Lake St. Clair Marshes)