Looking for something to do over the long weekend?
Why not take a ‘Tank Range’ bus tour of the Land Forces Central Area Training Centre near Meaford?
It’s part of a one time deal offered by the Meaford Museum.
Curator Pam Woolner tells Bayshore Broadcasting News the area once held historic towns and fishing villages, some predating the settlements in Meaford.
Woolner notes that very few people actually get to see the breathtaking scenery of the ‘Tank Range’, or hear the amazing stories of those who farmed the land generations ago.
Tickets are 12-dollars each, or two for 20-dollars.
There are a limited number of seats available for two excursions on Sunday (one begins at 11:30 AM and ends at 1:30 PM, while the final trip is set for 2:00 PM).
Woolner says the former fishing villages of Cape Rich and Vail Point will likely be the highlight of the tour, as they’re the oldest settlements in the area.
The Land Forces Central Area Training Centre is an operating tank/artillery range, therefore many of the old structures WON’T be intact.
There are also four or five cemeteries on the 200-thousand acre base — each is well maintained by the Federal Government and families are allowed to visit.
In 1942, the Department of National Defence purchased 800 square kilometres of private lands along Georgian Bay in the St. Vincent Township, nicknamed “Camp Meaford”.
It was intended for tank warfare and artillery gunnery training, as the landscape includes limestone cliffs, dense forests and rolling open agricultural fields.
There are also a variety of modern military facilities on the site…
