The hamlet of Newport won’t be getting a parking lot for a new Grand River access point any time soon, after more than 1,300 artifacts were discovered on a County of Brant-owned property earmarked for a boat launch.
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In July 2021, council approved a purchase of six acres of land at 25 Newport Rd. to turn an informal Grand River access point south of Brantford into an official spot for river access.
“People have been using this location for fishing … for years but there are no services and parking is limited to a few spaces on the shoulder of the road,” Kathy Ballantyne, director of facilities and special projects for the county, told The Spectator in an email.
The county planned to create 37 parking spots, a picnic area, space for portable toilets and provide some landscaping for around $325,000.
On the riverside, the launch area would have a roadside drop-off with safe crossing from the parking lot, according to a March 2022 report Ballantyne wrote to council.
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However, after learning that more than 1,300 artifacts were found during early archaeological assessments, councilors voted to cancel the project at an administration and operations committee meeting in July.
The findings on the unoccupied riverside property included projectile points used by nomadic hunters and gatherers in the early and middle Archaic periods — as early as 9,500 years ago, according to a report by Archaeological Consultants Canada.
The assessment also turned up Indigenous pottery — including a Glen Meyer ceramic vessel — and Euro-Canadian artifacts, such as wire nails, ceramics and clothing buttons.
It’s not entirely unusual — the Brantford area is “kind of archeology central,” and it’s not uncommon to find “amazing things from all time periods every time we put a shovel in the ground,” Paul Racher, a principal with Archaeological Research Associates, told The Spectator.
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But Racher said there aren’t “a ton of great sites” from the early Archaic period because “the further you go back in time, the more preservation becomes a problem.”
The findings mean that the site would need to undergo additional excavations before work could begin, which would significantly add to the cost of the project, councilors heard in July.
The costs go up “dramatically,” as larger and more interesting discoveries are made, with no way of getting around it “because the standards come from the province,” Racher said.
Councilors instructed the county to cancel the contract for the project, return a $50,000 donation from Brant Waterworks Foundation and look into other potential uses for the property, including the viability of selling it.
Developing a new river access point has been a priority for several years, Ballantyne wrote in a March 2022 report to council.
The Newport river access point was one of four listed in the county, however, Ballantyne told The Spectator it will no longer remain an official access point and will be removed from “any promotions it is currently listed on.”
Celeste Percy-Beauregard is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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