There really are two Canterburys. There is the town as it was,how it was planned and laid out along the ground,where each of it's buildings stood and what each of them did.The mortar and bricks,or,in the case of this particular town,boards and nails,for there was an abundance of trees,and very few bricks.
Then there was the Canterbury of myth,a town that was real,but also,not so.It too contained all of the buildings,roads,all that could be taken in by sight,sound,smell and tactile perception,but it went far beyond what was,into the world of meaning.Like a word with meaning,then,beyond,connotation.You could see the town by wandering through.It took more than that to know it,for a town has a spirit too.
When you left the main highway,at a place called Crow Hill,it was ten or twelve miles into the bush.the road was mostly straight,narrow and not very well surfaced.There was the odd farm along the way,but again they were neither big or prosperous.Lots of hay.Some potatoes and root vegetables,but not many grain crops.A few cows and horses in fields that were rather rocky.One small stream intersected the road.
Eventually you came to town.It took about twenty minutes from the main road.there were a lot of tall trees standing by the side of the road,and they looked as though they could have been planted,though it's more likely that the finest of their type were preserved when cutting began to clear the town site. before you came into town there was a sign welcoming you to town and stating the population.it seemed to decline every year in my memory.
The high school was at the north end of town,and there was a bit of a curve in the road just as you passed it,then you came into a small downtown strip.It was nevertheless impressive for a town of it's size,having maybe a dozen or more shops,a post office,a bank and a handful of white,wooden churches,unlike the great stone churches in the town from which it took it's name. the place here that had the greatest and grandest stones was the cemetery,on the right hand side,past the school and before downtown.
The tracks bisected the road right in the downtown area.There was a station just to the right,and a building that reminded me of a grain elevator,or perhaps a feed store,and a little,odd shaped sort of silo,which I never noticed until just recently.A train came through each morning,you could hear it's whistle.You could catch the train there,but I'm not certain how many times it stopped and how many times it just drifted through.
Beyond the tracks were a couple of more stores,including the one that had rooms in the back,in which my uncle and grandparents lived.Then you went up the first hill,out of downtown.There was what people called a hospital on the right hand side going up the hill.In reality,it was inside a house very much like most of the other houses in town,and would not even rate as a well appointed doctor's office.But it had a red cross right by it's door.
Maple Street was the first side street,and it was quiet and well treed.then Orchard,that had a aqua colored house with a huge wrap around porch,sitting right on the corner was next,and it had far fewer trees.then came Elm Street,the last of the side streets,and the volunteer fire department just beyond.then main Street lifted into another hill,with maybe twenty houses along each side,until the hill crested.The department Of highways garage was at the top,on the right hand side,and my uncles Esso station and garage was just across.Annie and Fred English lived in the next house past the Esso,just on the downside of the hill,and beyond that was another house or two,then town was finished.The road beyond led to Dead Creek,Skiff Lake,Eel River Lake and the American border.
And that is more or less the physical lay of the land.Though why it came to be at all seems kind of odd.In an age when rivers were roads,Canterbury came to be located far from any substantial body of water,as though it might have been avoiding the rest of the world.
Then there was the Canterbury of myth,a town that was real,but also,not so.It too contained all of the buildings,roads,all that could be taken in by sight,sound,smell and tactile perception,but it went far beyond what was,into the world of meaning.Like a word with meaning,then,beyond,connotation.You could see the town by wandering through.It took more than that to know it,for a town has a spirit too.
When you left the main highway,at a place called Crow Hill,it was ten or twelve miles into the bush.the road was mostly straight,narrow and not very well surfaced.There was the odd farm along the way,but again they were neither big or prosperous.Lots of hay.Some potatoes and root vegetables,but not many grain crops.A few cows and horses in fields that were rather rocky.One small stream intersected the road.
Eventually you came to town.It took about twenty minutes from the main road.there were a lot of tall trees standing by the side of the road,and they looked as though they could have been planted,though it's more likely that the finest of their type were preserved when cutting began to clear the town site. before you came into town there was a sign welcoming you to town and stating the population.it seemed to decline every year in my memory.
The high school was at the north end of town,and there was a bit of a curve in the road just as you passed it,then you came into a small downtown strip.It was nevertheless impressive for a town of it's size,having maybe a dozen or more shops,a post office,a bank and a handful of white,wooden churches,unlike the great stone churches in the town from which it took it's name. the place here that had the greatest and grandest stones was the cemetery,on the right hand side,past the school and before downtown.
The tracks bisected the road right in the downtown area.There was a station just to the right,and a building that reminded me of a grain elevator,or perhaps a feed store,and a little,odd shaped sort of silo,which I never noticed until just recently.A train came through each morning,you could hear it's whistle.You could catch the train there,but I'm not certain how many times it stopped and how many times it just drifted through.
Beyond the tracks were a couple of more stores,including the one that had rooms in the back,in which my uncle and grandparents lived.Then you went up the first hill,out of downtown.There was what people called a hospital on the right hand side going up the hill.In reality,it was inside a house very much like most of the other houses in town,and would not even rate as a well appointed doctor's office.But it had a red cross right by it's door.
Maple Street was the first side street,and it was quiet and well treed.then Orchard,that had a aqua colored house with a huge wrap around porch,sitting right on the corner was next,and it had far fewer trees.then came Elm Street,the last of the side streets,and the volunteer fire department just beyond.then main Street lifted into another hill,with maybe twenty houses along each side,until the hill crested.The department Of highways garage was at the top,on the right hand side,and my uncles Esso station and garage was just across.Annie and Fred English lived in the next house past the Esso,just on the downside of the hill,and beyond that was another house or two,then town was finished.The road beyond led to Dead Creek,Skiff Lake,Eel River Lake and the American border.
And that is more or less the physical lay of the land.Though why it came to be at all seems kind of odd.In an age when rivers were roads,Canterbury came to be located far from any substantial body of water,as though it might have been avoiding the rest of the world.
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