A Very Pretty Object: The Socially Constructed Landscape of Burlington Heights 1780-1815

Abstract

<p>Landscape is a way of seeing. It is a social construction. Land is viewed, used and transformed by the humans who inhabit it. The different worldviews of people provided the basis for what Burlington Heights could and should be used for. Following the cycle of scarcity and abundance, the Mississauga people using Burlington Heights were egalitarian, stewards of the land, finding in the natural features around them -- a spiritual potency which defined their place on the landscape. Following the pattern of his merchant patrons, Richard Beasley built material prosperity as well as social and political influence, which he demonstrated by developing his property in picturesque style. Faced with the prospect of losing complete control of the Niagara Peninsula during the War of 1812, the British army occupied the Heights and exerted a tyrannical influence across a landscape that it considered as indefensible, devious and unhealthy.</p>