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The Starkey Hill Interpretive Trail is jointly managed by the Guelph Hiking Trail Club and the Grand River Conservation Authority.
As you hike this trail, you will see steep forested slopes, wetlands and many other features that make this a beautiful and environmentally important place. Numbered markers along the path will help you enjoy the highlights of the trail. Click here to view the map. The property has a beautiful hardwood forest, and a large percentage of the area is pine plantation. Regeneration within the pines is slowly taking place and new growth is beginning to become evident. While on the high parts of the trail take a moment to enjoy the views and the landscape before you. The geological history of the Starkey property is an excellent example of the area's moraines and kettle depressions that are remnants of the ice age that swept this area 10,000 years ago. While walking the property take a moment to think of what it was like when the Starkey family first arrived in 1849.
The Starkey Property
In June of 1972, the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) bought the property on behalf of the City of Guelph for protection of the underlying groundwater. Guelph draws most of its drinking water from groundwater wells, the strongest concentration of which lies in the Arkell area. In the spring of 1972, the GRCA reforested 91 acres (36.86 hectares) with white pine. Today, many of these pines have matured and management practices are in place. In 1973, the Guelph Hiking Trail Club established a trail through the Starkey property.
Mr. John Starkey was 11 years old when his family settled in Puslinch Township from the United States in 1833. In 1849, he purchased a 100 acre parcel of land from Robert Tom who had owned the property since 1839. John Starkey married Margaret Murray and they had five children. In 1894, John Starkey's only son, James, born in 1858, took over the farm.Guelph Hiking Trail Club is a charitable organization Registration#11894 9395 PO Box 1, Guelph, ON, N1H 6J6 |
