1793, July 30, Elizabeth Simcoe arrives at Toronto

In her diary on Monday, July 29th, 1793, Elizabeth Simcoe described leaving Niagara and arriving at Toronto for the first time the next morning.  In July of 1793, Toronto was just a bay covered in forest and no town had been established yet.  Her husband,  the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, had a soldiers' camp set up at the site of present-day Fort York.

Mon. 29th - We were prepared to sail for Toronto this morning, but the wind changed suddenly.  We dined with the Chief Justice, and were recalled from a walk at nine o'clock this evening, as the wind had become fair.  We embarked on board the "Mississaga," the band playing in the ship.  It was dark, so I went to bed and slept until eight o'clock the next morning, when I found myself in the harbour of Toronto.  We had gone under an easy sail all night, for as no person on board had ever been at Toronto, Mr. Bouchette was afraid to enter the harbour till daylight, when St. John Rousseau, an Indian trader who lives near, came in a boat to pilot us.

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