Feversham & Maxwell, a "must-experience" on your Grey't Play List!

When you Play in Grey, you cannot overlook Feversham and Maxwell both of which offer you small town charm with their sleepy secrets and hidden gems of the past that you will not want to miss. 

The Feversham Fall Fair is a true celebration of our agricultural heritage and achievements. It all started back in 1867 with the Osprey Fair.  Today, the Feversham Fall Fair draws in surrounding communities and visitors each year, taking place annually the third week of September.  It features a parade, animal exhibits, horse shows, antique tractor pulls, children’s events, homemade crafts and so much more.  The Feversham Fall Fair can attribute its longevity to community support, which, in many cases spans up to four or five generations.  

 (thanks to South Grey Museum for historical photo and information)

Much more to Feversham...  It's a seemingly sleepy hamlet on the edge of Grey Highlands with the Beaver River running through it.  But, there  is a surprise around every corner.

The Feversham Gorge-Madelaine Graydon Memorial Conservation Area offers visitors spectacular landscapes. The natural beauty of the gorge's limestone cliff face majestically borders the Beaver River at a height of 24 metres providing a home to rare ferns and mosses-a botanist’s paradise for sure. A walk on the 1.5 km trail along the gorge will reward you with a photo opportunity around every bend.  There are cold water springs, rivulets that make their way into the gorge below,  lookout stations and stairways to enhance your experience. This hiking trail can be a wee bit strenuous in places but well worth the effort. 

A home coming for Kent Hudson, who has returned to his Feversham childhood home.  With  renovations to his Dad’s former three bay garage, he and his partner Gerry Littlejohn have turned the space into an amazing home décor shopping experience - Home Accents Emporium Kent and Gerry, visionaries to say the least, provide every visitor with small town hospitality and the freedom to browse.  From classic to cottagey, you are sure to find something special to enhance your home, cottage or weekend getaway.  You gotta shop here! 

 

Shorts Store is your quintessential general store with all the rural charm you would expect and a history that goes back to the beginning days of Feversham in 1910.  Today you can find a bit of anything you desire from a general store including DVD rentals, full service postal outlet, an LCBO and Beer Store outlet and many other locally sourced products.  Don’t miss viewing the mural that is on the side of the store, depicting life in Feversham some sixty years ago, including Lloyd Hudson who’s garage is now the Home Accents Emporium. 

 

You will want to include The Village Store as part of your visit to Feversham and check out any events that may be happening at the Osprey Museum, which was originally built in 1903 as the Salvation Army Church.  Open year round, quilting is the main weekly activity.  If you want to try your had at geocaching, there are two hidden in Feversham as well.

Many families in Feversham has made their living based on the river running through town.  In the past there were mills constructed to harness the power of the river and more recently the Gott family started bottling that water.  What started as a family owned trout farm in Feversham has grown into a major player in the bottled water industry as Ice River Springs and by bottling for many national grocery store brands.  The Gott family has grown their business over a short time period and while the first bottling plant is located in Feversham, there are now plants all over North America including a revolutionary recycling program in Shelburne which allows Ice River Springs to be the only bottled water to offer a 100% recycle bottle.  That is a true small town, hardworking success story!

Just up the road a bit you will find Maxwell, a small community with more to offer than you might think at first glance.  Surrounded by area farms, its rich agricultural heritage continues and is also renewed by the more recent influx of Mennonite families making their homes in and around Maxwell.  On any given day you can see the horse drawn wagons and buggies as the Mennonite families make their way around the region.  

 

A favourite gathering place for this hard working community and visitors alike is the Gilbert’s Country Café.  The menu offers all the favourite diner comfort foods and an all-day breakfast that is served to you on a cookie sheet.  This is where you can get small town, country comfort foods in a great atmosphere.  They also offer a convenient take-out window in the warmer months with outdoor tables where you can get a Chapmans’ Ice Cream as well as their great take out menu.   

 

You will not want to miss the outstanding shopping experience at The Rusty Star.  Specializing in handcrafted and hand-finished solid wood furniture manufactured in Ontario by Mennonite families, the showroom is filled with beautiful pieces.  They also offer reclaimed local pine furniture, log and outdoor furniture and charming home décor and craft pieces.  They even have a bridal registry.  You are sure to appreciate the quality of  the craftsmanship of our Ontario Mennonite community.    

 

Tucked just off the main road and adjacent acres of a hard wood forest you will find Maxwell’s Cabin Bed & Breakfast and Studio.  This unique Bed & Breakfast offers guests the experience of staying in a rustic pioneer cabin that was originally built in the 1852 but now has been lovingly restored by hosts Tom and Dar.  Operating yearly from May to October, the cabin is a rustic retreat for couples or families and even has an outdoor shower.  Resident artists Dar displays her work in her home studio and is that extra something that makes a stay in the Maxwell’s Cabin even more memorable.  

 

 

One Maxwell’s best kept secret is the Spirit House Music that takes place every Sunday in Maxwell.  The doors open at 6pm with the show starting at 7pm.  Various artists are featured in the show, hosted by David Russell of the band the Rockafellers.   

Be sure not to miss all these experiences that the little hamlets of Feversham and Maxwell have to offer and make them a part of your Grey’t Play List today!