Roots of Amaranth by Elizabeth Anne Kelling

A History of Amaranth Township by Elizabeth Anne Kelling.

Paperback, 99 pages.

Description: Amaranth, almost at the centre of the county, is a quiet little known township of wide open skies, approximately 1500-1700 feet above sea level. Shaped by the retreating glaciers, the land is gently undulating. In the east, some of the rugged terrain of Mono Township and the Niagara Escarpment spills over into the first few concessions of Amaranth, small hills and valleys gradually flatten out towards the west and the land bordering East Luther is almost flat.

It is difficult to realize, as one drive along the concession roads in the north west corner of the township and looks over flat land toward the Dundalk Till Plain, that this is one of the highest areas in Southern Ontario. High and yet swampy, a contradiction in terms! Hugh Black, who surveyed the Township in 1832 was quite disgusted with the Swampy, mosquito-ridden terrain, and did not consider that anyone would wish to settle there; one story is that because of the abundance of pigweed, he exclaimed in exasperation, after a particularly trying day, hacking away through the swamp, that "pigweed" would be a good name for the township. The pigweed belongs to the amaranthus genus of plants, from the Greek "amaranthos" the undying, hence the phrase "Immortal Amaranth" used by Milton in Paradise Lost.... However it came about, the name Amaranth became the official one and it has a poetic and romantic ring to it!