Desiree DeCoste
Beaver Staff
Paying homage to its storied past, the village of Yarker has erected four road signs that will welcome and bid farewell to visitors of the community.
The recently completed project was the result of over a year’s work from the Yarker and District Community Association.
All four signs are the same with the photo on the signs being that of a train traveling over the old train bridge in Yarker, which used to cross over the Napanee River, but no longer stands. Remnants on each side of the river still remain.
“We just agreed that it would be drawing attention to one of the local points that you can actually see the remnants of,” Deborah Richmond from the Yarker and District Community Association, expressed to The Beaver. “And Yarker is so rich in history.”
The signs themselves are double sided and measure at 4×6 feet in size and are each put up on two wooden posts.
“The signs are located, one on County Rd 1 coming from Camden East to Yarker,” stated Richmond. “There’s one coming from the 401 direction on County Rd 6, there is another sign coming from the other end of County Rd 1 coming in the direction of the Harrowsmith 38 Highway, and there’s one coming from Colebrook into Yarker along the river which is actually close to where the old piers use to be.”
Three of the four signs were erected in October, with the fourth having complications due to a deep ditch and bad weather, but was erected mid-December.
“It’s an interesting endeavour to see this come to fruition,” Richmond said. “And we’re probably not quite done yet because there are a couple of other things that we are thinking about adding to the community endeavour.”
Once known as Simcoe Falls, the village adopted the name Yarker in 1859.
For more information on the history of Yarker visit www.stonemillsmarketplace.ca/yarker.