NPCA endorses Ball’s Falls designation
Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority has endorsed the Town of Lincoln’s proposal to designate Ball’s Falls Conservation Area as a property of “cultural heritage value” under the Ontario Heritage Act.
“This has been a long time coming,” NPCA board member and Lincoln regional Coun. Rob Foster said during Friday’s board meeting. “This has been a long-term project for the Town of Lincoln to ensure its heritage buildings are taken care of.”
At its April 2 meeting, Lincoln’s committee of the whole approved a recommendation to designate the property and buildings at Ball’s Falls.
NPCA officials reviewed the heritage research report, consulted legal officials and eventually supported the cultural heritage designation.
“It is something that is really exciting to our staff,” said Adam Christie, NPCA director of conservation areas, who noted discussions had taken place with Lincoln officials.
Christie said there are several positives to having the area and buildings with a heritage designation, including the ability to seek grants and market the area to increase tourism.
“These buildings will be kept in their original state,” said Christie. “It’s a substantial benefit.”
A downside of the designation, staff said, is if NPCA — which took ownership of the property in 1959 through a donation by the Ball family — wants to make any repairs or conduct work on its buildings, it must apply for a heritage permit from the town.
Settled in 1809, Ball’s Falls is between Victoria Avenue and Glen Road in Vineland.
It was once a thriving industrial village because of the nearby Twenty Mile Creek and two waterfalls on the property. The Ball brothers built a three-storey wooden gristmill on the creek in 1809 that was used extensively by the British during the War of 1812. It closed in 1910. They also constructed a woollen mill.
Known as Glen Elgin, the area had grown into one of the area’s busiest industrial towns by the 1840s.
A town heritage report said the property’s buildings and features have “design or physical value because they are all rare, representative or early example of a style, type, expression, material or construction method.”
Also on the property is the Big Barn, the field centre and the Ball home, a brick, two-storey Georgian-style building, all associated with the Ball family, who were one of the earliest settlers to the area. About 485 hectares (1,200 acres) was sold to John and George Ball by Thomas Butler, brother of Col. John Butler.
Members of the Ball family were reeves for the Township of Louth, members of Butler’s Rangers, helped to establish the Louth and Jordan Harbour companies and assisted in the building of St. John’s Anglican Church. Mortimer Ball was a prominent lawyer who worked with the area’s important families, while George Peter Mann Ball laid out the plans for Glen Elgin, which were hindered when the Great Western Railway bypassed the site in the 1850s.
Ball’s Falls is today maintained as a mid-19th-century hamlet, featuring the Ball home, an operating flour mill, a lime kiln, a church, blacksmith shop, carriage shed and pioneer log cabins. NPCA operates various events in the area, including its popular Thanksgiving festival, education programs and weddings.