Photo: P199 · Public domain

0historic places on the registers

History of Brighton · Canada’s heritage registers

History around Brighton: 14 designated places within 50 km

For the highest designations, the closest town to Brighton is Alnwick/Haldimand, 27 km off. Of the 6 people born in Brighton before 1914, Mark Kellogg came first.

Historic places within 50 km

7 of the highest designation

Nearest historic place

12 km

Carrying Place of the Bay of Quinte

Homes built before 1961

20%

typical town: 18%

Born here before 1914

the earliest in 1831

Around the town

Brighton’s area holds 7 top-tier places within 50 km

The first one out is Carrying Place of the Bay of Quinte, 12 km away in Picton. Between them, 8 towns share them, mainly Belleville, Port Hope and Picton. Count to 50 km and there are 14.

The 12 nearest, within 50 km

Carrying Place of the Bay of QuinteNational Historic Site · 1787 · 12 km away, in Picton

Trent – Severn WaterwayNational Historic Site · 1830–1921 · 14 km away, in Quinte West

Scotch Bonnet Island LighthouseHeritage Lighthouse · 1853–1856 · 22 km away, in Picton

Barnum HouseNational Historic Site · 1820–1821 · 26 km away, in Alnwick/Haldimand

ArmouryRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 1907–1909 · 31 km away, in Belleville

Glanmore / Phillips-Faulkner HouseNational Historic Site · 1882–1884 · 32 km away, in Belleville

Belleville Railway Station (Grand Trunk)National Historic Site · 1856–1857 · 32 km away, in Belleville

Former Canadian National Railways (VIA Rail) Station, Cobourg, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1910–1912 · 36 km away, in Cobourg

Victoria Hall / Cobourg Town HallNational Historic Site · 1856–1861 · 36 km away, in Cobourg

Serpent MoundsNational Historic Site · 39 km away, in Otonabee-South Monaghan

Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Havelock, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1914–1930 · 44 km away, in Havelock

St. Mark's ChurchDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1822 · 46 km away, in Port Hope

How it began

The dates behind Brighton, from 1796

The date Wikidata keeps for Brighton is 1796; whether it was a founding or a legal act, the entry leaves open. The municipality of Brighton was incorporated as a village in 1859 and a town in 1980.

How it began: Wikidata (CC0); dates read from English Wikipedia’s article “Brighton, Ontario”, revision 1377765103 (CC BY-SA 4.0), and stated in our own words.

The age of the area

Around Brighton, within 50 km, the dated heritage reaches back to 1787

Out to 50 km from Brighton, outside the town: each place by when its record says building began.

British North America 1760–18668

After Confederation 1867–19133

Wars and Depression 1914–19451

Since 1946 1946 on0

Dated places within 50 km: 12. 8 go back before 1867. The earliest is Carrying Place of the Bay of Quinte in Picton, begun in 1787.

Homes by age

Brighton is still building: 7.9% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%

20% of Brighton’s homes predate 1961, close to the typical town’s 18%. Brighton’s largest group of homes, 27%, went up from 1981 to 2000. Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up 27% of Brighton’s, against 15% in the typical town.

20%

Before 1961

19%

1961–80

27%

1981–2000

27%

2001–15

7.9%

2016–21

BrightonTypical town

2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.

Born here

Lives begun in Brighton between 1831 and 1903

Mark Kellogg is the most written about, in 8 languages. Most of them, 4 of 6, came into the world in the years before Confederation. Counting only births before 1914, there are 6. The longest life here was Benjamin Fish Austin’s, 83 years, ending in 1933.

Mark Kellogg

Benjamin Fish Austin

Samuel Greerson Nesbitt

Wesley Montgomery

George Newcombe Gordon

Eddie Hayward

1800182518501875190019251950

Mark Kellogg1831–1876 · American newspaper reporter

Benjamin Fish Austin1850–1933 · Canadian educator, Methodist minister, and spiritualist

George Newcombe Gordon1879–1949 · Canadian politician

Eddie Hayward1903–1983 · American horse trainer and jockey

Wesley Montgomery1859–1935 · Canadian politician

Samuel Greerson Nesbitt1859–1938 · Canadian politician

Everyone born in Brighton → Born before 1914 (the page’s periods: Confederation to the First World War). Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s Wikipedia article.

Neighbours

Brighton and its neighbours

Town	People	Places	Oldest
Brighton	12,900	0	—
Colborne	7,216	0	—
Quinte West	50,385	11	1931

In brief

Brighton in brief

In Brighton, 20% of homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Mark Kellogg (1831), Benjamin Fish Austin (1850) and George Newcombe Gordon (1879) lead its people of the past. The other figures are unremarkable: as with most towns its size, no historic place is listed.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

The tiers. Three tiers: the top for National Historic Sites, classified federal buildings and Québec’s classements, a second for the other federal designations, a third for provincial and municipal listings.
Provincial and municipal lists. Outside Québec, provinces’ and municipalities’ heritage registers aren’t open data; their places are known only through Wikidata items with a register number, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
People and events. Parks Canada’s open file gives its national historic persons no place. A town’s page names one only when the person was born there (matched by name and both life years) or one of its own historic places carries the name and its record speaks of them; national historic events stay off.
Protection. A National Historic Site designation recognises significance; it doesn’t by itself protect a building the federal government doesn’t own. Legal protection comes from provincial and municipal designations, whose own registers aren’t open data outside Québec.
The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
The federal register. Every federal designation is in Parks Canada’s directory, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places gives most of them a bilingual statement of significance.

Questions about Brighton’s history

How many historic places does Brighton have on the registers?

None inside Brighton yet. The nearest, Carrying Place of the Bay of Quinte, carries the highest designation, 12 km away in Picton.

How old are the homes in Brighton?

20% of its homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical Canadian town.

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).

Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).