Take a trip back in time to these Waterloo region taverns and inns: Jasmine Mangalaseril

Tucked away in Waterloo region's nearby small towns, some restaurants and pubs provide glimpses into our area's history, when communities formed and where early immigrants first arrived.

While farms and mills were usually where communities began, Waterloo- based historian Joanna Rickert-Hall explained offering food and drink were important in those early days.

"Nine times out of 10, you're going to have a milland you're going to have a hotel," Rickert-Hall said.

"In the early days, people passing by would have spent the day at the mill. They might have slept at the mill. It had alcohol because there's still brewing on site, a kind of a little side gig," she explained.

Oncethe basic infrastructure, like a road, was establishedtaverns and inns were usually part of an early settlement's hub.

Crowsfoot, Conestogo

There were three mills in 19th century Conestogo, with the local tavern or inn nearby on Sawmill Roadwhere Crowsfoot stands today.

"You would bring your items to the mill, and you have to wait for them to be processed before you took them back. There was always a need for a livery and a hotel and a tavern for people to stay for one night or two nights, and this is the location of that tavern," said Ryan Lloyd-Craig co-owner of The Ignite Group.

Fires razed the original 1841 building and a subsequent building the most recent blaze was in 1968. It's the former Black Forest Inn to many, but for decades it was the Trails End Hotel where, for a while, meals were made by Chef Augusta Thiem, who once helped prepare meals in one of Kaiser Wilhelm II's hunting lodges.

Ignite Group bought, renovated, and modernized the building, hiring Mennonite craftsmen to give it a modern late-19th century feel.

Crowsfoot's menu pays a nod to German dishes but focuseson an Eastern European smokehouse, southern U.S. barbecue fusion, along with contemporary vegetable-forward dishes.

The Brew House on the Grand, Fergus

Up the river in Fergus, The Brew House on the Grand was built around 1850 as the home, business office, and sales room and warehouse for a local tanner. According to the pub's siteit has had many lives, including a chick hatchery and police station. After being converted into a flour mill in the late 19th century, owner Dr. Abraham Groves harnessed the river's power for electrical generation.

"The mill quickly turned into a form of electricity hub which in turn powered the hospital and main streetlights in Fergus," explained Nathan Desnoyers, director of operations.

"After a little while, he opened that up to providing power and electricity to Elora, which in turn made Fergus one of the first locations in Ontario to provide cross-city electricity."

Desnoyers says under its original ownerthe house was like a private tavernserving food and drinks. The Brew House has returned to those early rootsserving 18 different beers, including several local brews, while its kitchen turns out contemporary pub food.

The Heidelberg Restaurant and Tavern, Heidelberg

Originally called the Great Western Hotel, the Heidelberg Restaurant was built in 1860. The stagecoach inn welcomed many Pennsylvania German immigrants and the hotel offered a taste of home.

"Pigtails and pork hocks would have been the common man's fare," said Rickert-Hall. "I think that's another thing that people would find coming into the area. Food they knew so immediately it's building a strong connection [through] familiarity of their own homeland."

Bob and Gayle MacMillan have owned The Heidelberg since the mid-1980s and said those dishes still draw people to their homestyle tavern.

"We definitely serve Waterloo County fare. People love our spareribs, our smoked pork hocks. Our pigtails are well known in this area and a lot of people come from Toronto and lots of other cities when they're visiting this area," said Gayle MacMillan.

And after a chance write-up in a Toronto community newspaper a few years ago, they're also attracting reservations from as far as China.

EJ'sTavern and Restaurant, Baden

The original Baden Hotel was built in 1858, on land purchased from Sir Adam Beck's father. Beck spearheaded Ontario's electrification, founding what was once the world's largest public utility.

The current brick building replaced the original timber frame structure in 1874, making EJ'sTavern and Restaurantsouthern Ontario's longest continually operating dining establishment.

As a railway hotel, it was a landing point and information hub, particularly for German-speaking immigrants.

"It was drawing people into the area who are coming from Europe as wellbecause newspapers also circulated. So, hotels provided food, they providedwork opportunitiesand certainly social activities," said Rickert-Hall.

Among its many guests was an unnamed 1910 artistwho, in exchange for room and board, painted 26 florals and landscapes on panels. They were installed in the bar's embossed ceiling.

EJ's underwent a facelift, but the panels and original barremain. Serving roadhouse favourites, it's a place where you feel like family, and, for locals, it's"where everybody knows your name."