Home Regions of OntarioHuron, Perth, Waterloo and Wellington Region
Bayfield, Ontario
Bayfield is a lovely little village situated on the east side of Lake Huron at the mouth of the Bayfield River. The Village of Bayfield, as it is often referred to is located 32 kilometres or 20 miles south of Goderich, Ontario.
The main street is lined with old buildings and quaint shops and eateries. There is also ample space and free parking if you want to watch the breathtaking beauty of the sun going down over Lake Huron from Pioneer Park in Bayfield.
A Historic Plaque located on Main street North, in front to of the Library in the Village of Bayfield reads as follows:
The Founding of Bayfield
In 1832 Carel Lodewijk, Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken, a Dutch nobleman, purchased large holdings in the Huron Tract including 157 ha here which he set aside for a settlement. During the next decade an extensive town plot was laid out, grist and saw mills were erected and a community was established. The settlement, named Bayfield after the nautical surveyor Henry Wolsey Bayfield, developed as a centre for the surrounding agricultural community. By 1851 the hamlet contained a wagon and ploughmaking works, two blacksmiths shops, an ashery, a distillery, two tanneries, a brickyard and about 125 residents. The construction of a harbour during the 1870s spurred further growth, and in 1876, with a population of over 800, Bayfield was incorporated as a village.
