Walking Tours

Since 1973, sixteen historic plaques have been erected in Thornhill to commemorate people, places and events that have shaped our community. The first two were installed by branches of the Government of Ontario, the succeeding fourteen have been installed by SPOHT.

These bronze plaques, topped by their characteristic wheat sheafs, have been installed in different parts of Thornhill between 1973 and 2004.

Historic walking tours of Thornhill have been produced more than once by SPOHT, and one of the earliest organized tours was created by the Thornhill Village Library archives committee in the 1970's.

In 1996, Vic Stecyk and Lorna F. Rogers produced "A Walking-Cycling Tour of Old Thornhill". In 2000, another edition was produced with additional assistance from David Rawcliffe and Peter DeMille.

These pamphlet can be found in the Thornhill Village Library which is the first stop on your self-guided tour of historic Thornhill.

Did you know five members of the Group of Seven live in Thornhill?

When Group of Seven founder, J.E.H. MacDonald, settled in Thornhill in 1912, his presence encouraged several of his contemporary artist friends to join him. Four other future members of the Group of Seven rented houses in Thornhill for brief periods.