Braemar

Braemar, named after a village in the highlands of Scotland, straddled the boundaries of East and West Zorra, where, when travelling eastward, Zorra’s Road 84 becomes East Zorra-Tavistock’s Braemar Road (just east of the bridge over Mud Creek at the corner of Zorra/East Zorra-Tavistock Line). A vibrant village with a range of services, Braemar featured a post office (1862-1914) in the general store, a hotel, a church, a cheese factory, a sawmill, a blacksmith, weaver, dressmaker, shoemaker, with a population of around 80 the end of the 19 th century. The book Historically Bound: The History of Embro and West Zorra (vol. 2, pp. 172-174) presents a delightful overview of life in Braemar through the decades, including the central importance of The Braemar Hall, the use of which dwindled until 2002 when the Hickson Fire Department brought the structure down with a controlled burn. The last time Statistics Canada reported on local settlements like Braemar in the census, the population had declined to eleven in Zorra and five in East Zorra-Tavistock.