Corbyville is a community located within the City of

Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its population ...

. Its origins begin when

Henry Corby Henry Corby (1806 – 25 October 1881) was an Ontario baker, businessman, and politician. Born and raised in England, Corby immigrated to Upper Canada in 1832. After building businesses in Belleville, Ontario, he served as the 9th mayor of Bell ...

immigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Corby had been a baker in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and when he arrived in Belleville in 1832, set up a small food shop. After serving in the

Rebellion of 1837 Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

he bought a

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. "Laurel wreath, laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, perse ...

steamer named the ''Queen'' which he operated for four years. It was customary for farmers to set aside a portion of their inferior grain to be made into whisky, and as Corby was already making whisky for the locals, he became interested in the distilling process. In 1857, Corby built a dam and established a grist-mill on the bank of the

Moira River The Moira River is a river in Hastings County in eastern Ontario, Canada. It travels from its source in the centre of the county to the Bay of Quinte at the county seat Belleville . Name Originally named the Sagonaska River by the indigenous peo ...

. In 1859 he built a distillery which became more important than the mill. ( I am pretty sure this mill was built long before that by Wm Reed and his Son, about 1812, or at least there was another built back then) Ten years after building his first mill, Henry decided to try his hand at politics and was elected mayor in 1867. The following year he served as a member of the Provincial Parliament for the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

s. Henry died on October 25, 1881 at which time his son, Harry, took over the business. Harry began to sell the whisky by the bottle rather than the barrel, seeing it a better business opportunity. In 1905 the company was named the H. Corby Distillery. The distillery was closed in 1989.

Corbyville today

The hamlet of Corbyville is not really a ghost town as it is sometimes described since there are over 700 households here. Corbyville has an elementary school, Harmony Public School. Teenage students who live in Corbyville are driven by bus into neighbouring city, Belleville, to attend high school. On Sunday April 5, 2009 most of what remained of the old Corby Distillery burned down. Arson was suspected. Now Corbyville is home to a local distillery Signal Brewery, which has a constant flow of people attending in hopes to form a get together as well as trying some wood stove baked pizza. Corbyville is also home to a few small businesses now such as Landtech Design.

Wildlife

Because of its rural location and proximity to woodlands, there is an abundance of wildlife in Corbyville. Wildlife sightings include deer, black bear, raccoons, porcupine, squirrels, fox, rabbits, muskrats, groundhogs and coyotes. There is a wide variety of birds found here including wild turkeys, American woodcocks, pileated woodpeckers, great blue herons, Canada geese and kingfishers. The Moira River, which runs through part of Corbyville, is home to many different species of animals including snapping turtles, crayfish and garter snakes.

References

External links

Ontario Abandoned Places - CorbyvilleHarmony Public School
{{authority control Communities in Hastings County