So we now come upon Hepworth

on our continuing and edge of your seat tour of South Bruce Peninsula .Now Hepworth is a bustling crossroads, that is home to a beautiful Canadian Legion branch with a log theme, one of the busiest Timmies you will ever see, and some nice shops and even a local knitter that supplies Highland dancing outfits throughout the world. There are still standing some original heritage buildings , and some have been restored to their former glory.
Hepworth , the name, has a quaint history behind it. The area was owned by William Plowes who laid out a plan for a new village, and asked a local minister to suggest a name, which he the suggested the name Epworth , being the birthplace of John Wesley. A mispronunciation of the name became Hepworth, formed in the mid 1860’s.
Several sawmills opened and prospered on the local forests, as well as a post office and a boom to the area, a railway stop .It really gained prominence when in the 1890’s it was designated by a few investors that this would be a major oil producing area , on the advice of a well known Pennsylvania oil man.
After a few failed attempts, finally when the local school principal, E.P.Roe, formed a company and in August 1900, hit natural gas. It was used locally for years, and the Standard Oil Company gained leases on quite a few acres. There was no oil, but was, and still is a place for natural gas.
You can read more about it that I posted awhile back (its at the bottom of that blog)
Next stop, Wiarton, home of Willie!