The story of The Burlington Stone is as old as the planet itself. It is supposedly a random boulder laid down by the passage of an ice age through Southern Ontario but it tells a story far more beautiful and wondrous than any fairy-tale could ever hope to do. It is the story of the intelligence of a Universe and the wisdom behind it. Even more than this is shows how The Native Americans, whom the early explorers [who I think were really here to learn and see what this New World had become] met were really all about. But that is for later in our saga.
Our story begins untold centuries ago when the Earth was being formed and stones and rocks were being created. Then came the glaciers and ice ages and then the retreat and in it's wake, perhaps a new covenant, for many strange and wonderful things were left lying around for the wise to find and interpret. The Burlington Stone was one such object.
I have been unable so far to trace it's origin as people are very reluctant to talk about any of this but I can hazard a guess that it was most probably a sacred stone of the local tribe of Native Americans who stood on the bluffs of Burlington Heights and welcomed Lasalle way back in 1669, sent perhaps by Louis XIV, to expand his Sun Kingdom and bring back the sages who dwelt on the other side of the world [Native Americans].
To fully understand this story one must go back to France and King Louis XIV, and The Palace of Versailles, and Poussin and The Rennaissance and even The Templars, and then The Arabs, and back to the Greeks and finally right back to The ancient Egyptians, but I will leave that for future chapters for this one is to deal with this amazing boulder.
Where is it ?
This boulder is located in a park called Lasalle Park in honour of the man who first landed in here in 1669. Now strangely the internet is strangely silent on this part of his voyages and it simply states that after landing here he met up with two Jesuits around Paris, Ontario and then headed back toward Montreal, where he then headed into the USA in around 1673, but very little is know about who he met here and what he learnt. The boulder was erected as a monument to him in about 1923 but I have been unable to find out exactly by whom and why and where the boulder came from, but I am still searching. It is situated in a lowlying area of the bluffs known as Burlington Heights and is set up so that you face West as you read the plaque. Here is a picture of what one sees. In the background is Burlington Bay and beyond that is Hamilton and an area known as Cootes Paradise [about at 2 o'cock] which we will find is very important in our story, but again that is for later.
In the early 1900's this park was a favourite getaway for the inhabitants of Hamilton with a ferry service [which I was fortunate enough to have been able to travel on] and a pavillion was built along with a wonderful wading pool and fountain. The latter [fountain and wading pool] long since been torn down. The pavillion is too lost to history although many pictures exist but the city father's in their wisdom built the new one to the exact same specs [I think] of the old one. Shortly after rebuilding the old one after fire had gutted it, this new one was also burnt down and the one that now stands is the replacement for the burnt second one which lasted only a couple of weeks. Here is a picture of it. Notice how it has a strangely Egyptian feel to it and there are 18 pillars in the centre open court. I am still waiting for The City of Burlington to release some plans to me so I can check the measurements against some of the ancient temples in both Egypt and Greece.
LaSalle Park Pavillion [constructed 1917] in 1921, Hamilton Public Library, Special Collections.
Now this park has a very strange history to be sure and it was originally called, and those who have followed my own personal voyages in Wonderland will see the humour in this, Wabasso Park. Now the bizarre thing about this is that Wabasso means White Rabbit in the Native American language and to add further strangeness to all of this is the fact that the beach situated about 100 feet below the park is in the shape of none other than a White Rabbit and virtually no one is this area is aware of this fact. I only happened to notice it while studying an old 1950 aerial photograph of the park. Here is the picture below. See if you can find the White Rabbit. Also be aware that this would be impossible to see from the cliff. How did the natives know then?
Here is blow-up for those who couldn't find it or see it.
Much more to come ... Please vist my website on this at [ Ссылка ]
