Meadowvale Miniature Village

The original mill (now in ruins)

The miniature mill recreation

I remember when Meadowvale was a charming village on the outskirts of Toronto. Established in 1819 by Irish immigrants from New York state, the main industry was milling, with the mills drawing power from the Credit River. It was surrounded by farms, until the 1990s, when developers arrived on its doorstep. Terry Wilson lived in the village with his mother Rosemary. Over the course of twenty years, they recreated the old mill community on their property using free wood donated by the developer. Sheets of plywood, became little houses, mills, stores, shops, a church, a library, a train station, and a covered bridge. They did all of the work... the carpentry, the roofing, and the painting. It stands today, within a garden.

(Due to the well-preserved historic character of the area, the actual Meadowvale Village earned the distinction of becoming Ontario’s first Heritage Conservation District in 1980.)