History
Situated at the junction of Highways 401 and 403, Woodstock lays fifty kilometers east
of London and 140 kilometers west of Toronto. In the heart of Southwestern Ontario,
the city, part of Oxford County, is well known for its rich farmland and is considered the
Dairy Capital of Canada.
In 1793, Sir John Graves Simcoe, laying out the route from Burlington Bay to the
proposed town of London, passed through the area we now know as Woodstock. He
noted it as a suitable “Town Plot”. In the following years, it was earmarked as a future
town and settlement began in 1800.
During the 1830’s, British naval and army officers on half pay, were encouraged to
settle in the area to ensure the community’s loyalty to the British Crown. Many streets
bear their names, such as Light, Vansittart and Graham.
As early as 1836, these gentlemen formed the Woodstock Agricultural Society and
concentrated mainly on farming. Over the next 50 years, Canada’s rapid
industrialization, urbanization and immigration led to the need for social reform to cope
with the social ills caused by these changes. In response, many people looked for ways
to bring this about and one way was to form a Horticultural Society to encourage
amateur and commercial growing of fruit, vegetables, and ornamentals, and to promote
the beautification of the Town.
Woodstock Horticultural Society was formed in 1883. Women were Society members
but did not hold official positions until the 1920’s! For 139 years, our Society has
continued to encourage interest and improvement in horticulture and related
environmental issues. Meetings have been held 9 months of the year at the Woodstock
Fairgrounds with many educational and interesting guest speakers. We offer a bursary
for post secondary students. Our volunteers participate in community planting of
Downtown and Fairground flower beds, planting containers for low-income housing and
various social organizations. We hold flower shows and plant sales and our members
have enjoyed day trips to a variety of gardens and parks as well as businesses with
some sort of horticultural connection. This could be a garden centre, lavender farm or
even a winery.
One of the most important aspects of membership has been the friendships formed and
the social chat about each other’s gardens, families, and community events. This
became more apparent during the pandemic when we all missed our regular activities
and friendships. And so, our Society evolved once again, learning to hold meetings on-
line, with some of our older members bravely having to learn to use a computer. We
were able to enjoy speakers from much further afield, figured out how to hold on-line
flower shows and more.
Now with meetings back in-person and having embraced the recent changes, we
continue to value the ideals, responsibilities and camaraderie which has kept the
Woodstock Horticultural Society strong for so long.
