At Home in Tay Valley

In 1816, the British government founded the Perth Military Settlement, to help address a number of issues it faced following the War of 1812. How to protect Upper Canada against future attack from the United States. How to demobilize vast numbers of soldiers. How to relieve conditions at home as industrialization began changing the way people lived and worked. Many of these early settlers carved out farms and villages in what is now Tay Valley township, west of Perth. They were followed by others in the ensuing years, many putting down deep roots in the rocky soil, creating strong communities in the process.


With more than 60 contributors, At Home in Tay Valley captures the voices, stories, images, circumstances, and events that have defined the lives of those who have called Tay Valley home―from the First Nations who helped the early settlers survive and adapt to a new land, to the hippies of the 1970s who sought a more wholesome way of life.


The proceeds from the sale of At Home in Tay Valley will be directed to a history scholarship for a student graduating from Perth and District Collegiate Institute or from St. John Catholic High School who has been accepted into an apprenticeship, college or university program and who has demonstrated a keen interest in history.