The Beginning: Early Life of Port Dalhousie

Driven out of their homes and old lives after the American Revolutionary War,  the Loyalists trekked up to Canada, and discovered Port Dalhousie. For a long time, Port Dalhousie was inhabited by the Indigenous, who helped accustom the Loyalists to their new lives. With no technology at their hands, the early settlers would use tree stumps as dining tables, eating corn, potatoes and turnips from their crops. The settlers, a few years later, faced a crop failure and widespread famine occurred at Port Dalhousie.  One of the early Loyalists who settled on Port Dalhousie was Captain Peter Tenbroeck. As a reward for his service in the American Revolution, he receieved eight hundred acres of land for his service. Eventually, Henry Pawling bought the land from Tenbroeck’s son, Jacob, in 1821.