The Hamlet of Carmel

Submitted by: Melissa Holmes

Hike reference: 6.1 km Gleason's Corner

Students attended a one-room school in the area.

One of the smallest hamlets in Alnwick/Haldimand Township is Carmel, also known as Gleason’s Corner. It was named after a Dutch farmer by the name of Samuel Gleason.

You can find Gleason’s Corner (officially known later as Carmel) on two lots, 9 and 10, in the fifth concession of southeast Centreton. On a map, the hamlet is situated halfway between Centreton and Castleton.

Local children attended the one-room school S.S. 19. It was known as Wait’s School because the land on which the original log school was built was leased from Benjamin Wait. 

Burgess Meredith as "The Penguin".

Gleason’s Corner may or may not be able to claim a celebrity as its own. Some resources state the late actor, Burgess Meredith, was born one mile south of the hamlet in 1907, other resources say Meredith was born in Cleveland. Meredith is best-known for his portrayal of The Penguin in the 1960s Batman TV series; and for his Oscar-nominated performance as boxing trainer Mickey Goldmill in the 1976 film “Rocky”. Both of his parents were buried in the Eddystone cemetery.