The Town
The wide tree-lined avenues of the geometrically planned centre of Goderich radiate from a grand octagonal central circus dominated by the white-stone courthouse. From here, the four main streets follow the points of the compass with North Street leading in a couple of minutes to the compendious Huron County Museum (May-Aug Mon-Sat 10am-4.30pm, Sun 1-4.30pm; Sept-April Mon-Fri 10am-4.30pm, Sun 1-4.30pm; $4, $6.50 with Gaol ), which concentrates on the district's pioneers. Highlights include a fantastic array of farm implements, from simple hand tools to gigantic, clumsy machines like the steam-driven thresher. There's also a beautifully restored Canadian Pacific steam engine and intriguing displays on the history of Huron County and the Canada Company, as well as exhibition areas featuring furniture, transportation and military memorabilia, plus a string of period rooms. A ten-minute walk up to the far end of North Street and right along Gloucester brings you to the high stone walls of the Huron Historic Gaol at 181 Victoria St (mid-May to early Sept daily 10am-4.30pm; March to mid-May & early Sept-Oct phone for hours on tel 519/524-6971; $4, $6.50 with Huron County Museum). One of the province's most intriguing attractions, the gaol was constructed as a combined courthouse and jail between 1839 and 1842. Start on the third floor of the main block, whose claustrophobic courtroom and council chamber were originally situated next to a couple of holding cells. The design was most unpopular with local judges, who felt threatened by the proximity of those they were sentencing. The other problem was the smell: several judges refused to conduct proceedings because of the terrible odour emanating from the privies in the exercise yard below. In 1856, the administration gave way and built a new courthouse in the town centre. On the second and first floors, there's the original jailer's apartment and a string of well-preserved prison cells, reflecting various changes in design between 1841 and 1972, when the prison was finally closed. The worst is the leg-iron cell for "troublesome" prisoners, where unfortunates were chained to the wall with neither bed nor blanket. End your tour at the Governor's House , with its attractively restored late Victorian interior. Back in the centre, West Street leads the 1km through a cutting in the bluffs to the Lake Huron shoreline at the south end of the harbour and salt works. A footpath leads northeast round the harbour, passing the grain elevators on its way to the Menesetung Bridge , the old CPR railway bridge that now serves as a pedestrian walkway across the Maitland River. On the north side of the river, you can pick up the Maitland Trail for the brief but enjoyable jaunt along the river's north shore. In the opposite direction - south from the harbour - some 1.5km of shoreline has been tidied up to create a picnic area, but although the sunsets are spectacular the sandy beach, right at the end, is unenticingly scrawny.
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