Originally Posted on OurWindsor.caÂ
October 9, 2020 – In the early 19th century, Old Order Mennonites from Pennsylvania purchased the land that became St. Jacobs. Mohawk chief Joseph Brant had previously sold the land to speculators to raise money for the Six Nations. The village began to grow when a dam on the Conestogo River was built to provide water power for saw and woollen mills. St. Jacobs still maintains a large and visible Mennonite presence, which is part of its attraction as a thriving tourist destination.
St. Jacobs Farmers Market
The village of St. Jacobs was just a dot on the map until 1975, when an enterprising group of local farmers erected tents on a former stockyard outside the village and called it the St. Jacobs Farmers Market.
Shopping the village
Like nearby Elora, St. Jacobs entered the heritage game early, and the village is now packed with shops and studios peddling artisanal wares of every description.
St. Jacobs Horse-Drawn Tours
Consider making time for a farm visit with St. Jacobs Horse-Drawn Tours, which gives tourists a glimpse of Mennonite life from within a converted San Francisco trolley drawn by two enormous draft horses.
West Montrose Covered Bridge
If St. Jacobs is beginning to feel too suburban, one need only drive 10 minutes north to enter the most picturesque rural scene in Ontario: the banks of the Grand River where it is crossed by the West Montrose Covered Bridge, also known as the Kissing Bridge, built in 1881 and now the last of its type in the province.
