York Harbour, looking west from the mouth of the Don River, c. 1793

Elizabeth Simcoe (1762 - 1850).
Watercolour.
Toronto Public Library, TRL, 970-7-2.

Elizabeth Simcoe accompanied her husband to Upper Canada, where, as well as drawing many pictures, she kept a diary which provides the only descriptive record of the first years of the Town of York.

The picture of Toronto harbour in 1793, is a rare view of the site before settlement. Simcoe decided on the site in May 1793 primarily because of its harbour. He returned in July 1793 with his wife and children, and set up residence in a tent.