Scotsdale Farm/Maureen Smith Side Trail

The starting place, Scotsdale Farm, was bequeathed to the Ontario Heritage Foundation in 1982 by Stewart and Violet Bennett, owners of the farm for more than forty years. Encircled by tall maples, the modest white clapboard house and its garden of flowers and lawn sit comfortably behind a low dry-stone wall.



Rolling fields, some dotted with grazing cattle, surround the house, and a large barn dominates the farmyard. Begin your hike by following the blue blazes of the Bennett Heritage Trail as it heads east. Just beyond the barn is a pond created by a dam over Snow’s Creek, a tributary of Silver Creek.



With cedar and weeping willows lining its banks and a resident family of swans, it is an idyllic spot and a wonderful place for children to play. The Trail takes you down a tree-shaded country lane that used to be the rear entrance to the property. Just before reaching the 8th Line, turn right on the Maureen Smith Side Trail. This section honours Maureen, a long-time volunteer who continues to serve in a variety of roles with the Toronto Bruce Trail Club. When you reach the white blazes of the main Bruce Trail, turn right (west).



The Trail passes along the edge of fields and through a swampy area. Then the mood of the landscape changes; you enter more mature woods where tall graceful trees form a high canopy overhead. As you approach Trafalgar Road where the white blazes turn left, keep to the right on the blue-blazed Bennett Heritage Trail. It goes up a short hill and parallels the old main driveway into the farm and back to your car.

With file information from the Bruce Trail, for more information on this and other Bruce trails please purchase the Bruce Trail map and trail guidebook. The Bruce Trail is the oldest and longest marked hiking trail in Canada. It is 840 km long, with over 440 km of side trails. Every year more than 400,000 visits are made to the Trail as people walk, snowshoe, watch wildlife, take photographs and admire the glorious scenery of the Escarpment.



The Bruce Trail was instrumental in the Escarpment being named a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations in 1990 - one of only twelve such reserves in all of Canada. The Bruce Trail is a member of the Ontario Trails Council through affiliation with Hike Ontario.

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