Shadows Of Niagara

A Village in the Shadows is about survivors from the American Revolution who remained loyal to King George III. At the start of the revolution in 1776, families began to lose their homes, farms and businesses. They wanted to continue their old way of life under the orderly laws and security of the British Crown they had known in pre-revolutionary times. This type of government was being promised in Canada. A British Crown farming/resettlement program was implemented for families to grow grain and raise cattle on the west side of the Niagara River. Below the Escarpment, on the Niagara Peninsula, a Loyalist settlement developed at the intersection of two ancient Native trails. The settlement eventually became known as the village of St Davids. Its remarkable story started when Loyalist settlers arrived in the early 1780s. They became tenants of the land and laid down new roots. In 1812, they were once again beset by war. They had to defend their families from constant danger and they survived an incendiary attack by American Soldiers in 1814. Once more they had to rebuild their lives and businesses. Today, St Davids proud history is evident in its heritage homes, churches and burial grounds where many of the graves of the early settlers can be found.

Born of glaciers and turbulent waters, wars and struggles of native peoples, Niagara was powered by the dreams of men and women seeking refuge in a new land. Yet for all its rare beauty and rugged pioneering spirit, the Niagara region has sometimes drifted into shadows, affording its seedier citizens the cover they needed to do their dastardly deeds. A plot to invade Canada, a Mafia stronghold, madness, murder and savagery all lie hidden in the region's past. From the blood-soaked grounds of battle, local storyteller Lorna MacDonald Czarnota brings Wicked Niagara and grim tales of the region's early struggles into the light.

A Village in the Shadows is about survivors from the American Revolution who remained loyal to King George III. At the start of the revolution in 1776, families began to lose their homes, farms and businesses. They wanted to continue their old way of life under the orderly laws and security of the British Crown they had known in pre-revolutionary times. This type of government was being promised in Canada. A British Crown farming/resettlement program was implemented for families to grow grain and raise cattle on the west side of the Niagara River. Below the Escarpment, on the Niagara Peninsula, a Loyalist settlement developed at the intersection of two ancient Native trails. The settlement eventually became known as the village of St Davids. Its remarkable story started when Loyalist settlers arrived in the early 1780s. They became tenants of the land and laid down new roots. In 1812, they were once again beset by war. They had to defend their families from constant danger and they survived an incendiary attack by American Soldiers in 1814. Once more they had to rebuild their lives and businesses. Today, St Davids proud history is evident in its heritage homes, churches and burial grounds where many of the graves of the early settlers can be found.

Full of heroes and villains, eccentrics and daredevils, scientists, and power brokers, Niagara has a contemporary resonance: how a great natural wonder created both the industrial heartland of southern Ontario and the worst pollution on the continent.