13,000 Year Old Indigenous Road

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Today, Davenport Road and Toronto’s waterfront feel worlds apart. But thousands of years ago, they were closely connected.

Long before the city existed, Davenport followed the shoreline of a much older glacial lake and formed part of an important Indigenous trail known as Gete-Onigaming, meaning “at the old portage.” Used by Indigenous peoples for generations, the route connected waterways and travel networks across the region and may date back more than 13,000 years.
What is now an ordinary city street was once part of the original landscape and movement patterns that shaped this land long before Toronto was built.

1797

A portion of traditional 13,000 year old trail, Gete-Onigaming, renamed Davenport Rd

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