Grafton, Ontario

Grafton is a community in the province of Ontario. It is in Northumberland County, in the township of Alnwick/Haldimand. It is 12 km east of Cobourg, Ontario on the former Highway 2 (now Country Road 2), with close access to Highway 401. The hamlet is near the geographically significant Oak Ridges Moraine at Rice Lake. Grafton was originally called Grover's Tavern until March, 1832. The original Grover's Tavern, the namesake building of the hamlet, still stands today as the Grafton Village Inn, a restaurant and B & B in the heart of the hamlet. It was also referred to early in its history as Haldimand, which is the name of the township it is located in.

Grafton is an excellent example of the type of hamlets that flourished in the 19th century. Grafton had a bustling port for many years, shipping grain, barley and other commodities to communities along the Great Lakes. In addition, the hamlet included a Sons of Temperance group, an order of Freemasons, and numerous other social leagues. Bolstered by satellite communities such as Centreton, Castleton, Wicklow, and Vernonville, Grafton was a productive hamlet that supported itself through both agriculture and services.

By the late 1870s the hamlet could boast of having a doctor, several taverns and inns, a cheese factory, a blacksmith, a public scale, and a train station on the G.T.R line. Milk and dairy products were shipped daily to both Kingston and Toronto, and regular passenger service was also available. Grafton was successful enough at this time to earn a weekly column in the Cobourg daily newspaper, entitled "Latest Items from Grafton", which ran from 1875 through 1877. The column included news of the surrounding communities and hamlets and detailed various social, political, and economic on-goings in the area, such as picnics, local crime, sporting contests, and harvest reports.

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