Barbara A. Martindale- For What It's Worth
A new book has appeared on the scene, taking in the Grand River from stem to stern.
A brother and sister team, Gerard Brender a Brandis and Marianne Brandis, have published a very different book on the Canadian
Heritage Grand entitled The Grand River/Dundalk to Lake Erie.
Using Gerard’s illustrations and Marianne’s writing, they have covered features, important people, history and geography of the mighty Grand, integrating images and text.
Gerard and Marianne both live on different streets in Stratford, Ontario. They came to Canada from Holland in 1947 with their family.
Marianne graduated from McMaster earning a BA and MA, worked as a writer for CBC, taught at Ryerson, and became a full time writer.
Winner of historical fiction, she has a few books on her list of accomplishments.
She has also written biographies, including one of her mother entitled Frontiers and Sanctuaries: A Woman’s Life in Holland and Canada.
Gerard graduated in 1965 from McMaster with a BA in Fine Arts History.
Gerard is a well known wood engraver with collections in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Gallery/ Stratford and the National Gallery of Canada. In 1971, he bought an 1882 Albion printing press in England and shipped it to Canada, enabling him to produce 40 limited editions from his studio. He provides illustrations for commercially published books. His illustrations in the book are initially from wood engravings.
Briefly browsing through the easy to read The Grand River/Dundalk to Lake Erie, one gets the feeling of chronologically moving down the 300 kilometre- Grand River from a wet spot in a field near Dundalk to the huge expanse of Lake Erie at Port Maitland.
The reader learns from their journey, too. The 1960s dam at Taguanyah Conservation Area and its removal in 2004-2005 was mainly due to damaged aquatic life.
Since its removal, more than 10,000 shrubs and trees, typical of this area’s Carolinian zone, have been planted with ponds and wetlands created.
An illustration of a green dragon, a rare plant that is a close relative of the jack-in-the- pulpit and a species of Carolinian life, was found along the Grand in this area.
The Time Office in Brantford, constructed in 1903 and described as “historically and architecturally significant,” is illustrated.
There are many aspects of the book that are intriguing, and it is certainly an educational read.
Like Mabel Dunham’s 1945 book on the Grand River, this one too, no doubt, will be a classic.
The Grand River/Dundalk to Lake Erie will be available at the Grand Trunk
Train Station, 1 Grand Trunk Lane in Caledonia.
Phone ahead 905-765-0377 to order.
