"Around Town" is the name of a large and ambitious project undertaken by the History Guy to document the history of every property in the town of Brighton. Yes, that means every address on every street. The project has begun with Main Street and the first presentation resulting from the research was given at the Brighton Public Library on October 19, 2023. This one covered the north side of Main Street, starting from Memorial Park and going west to Princess Street. A second presentation, on February 22, 2024, will cover the south side of Main Street. Future presentations will deal with other streets, as the research is done and the information becomes available. Why? Good question. Over the last few decades I have researched many of the rural areas in the Municipality of Brighton and some in the wider region. My research follows people of interest and often is based on the genealogy work that ends up being reflected in www.treesbydan.com. During that work it became clear that processing the land registry records for a piece of land or a family is a very effective way to build more complete family trees as well as to better understand the development of the community. In addition to that, in recent years, I have been asked to research individual homes in Brighton and area, usually by new owners of old houses who want to connect with their new community and understand the history of their house and property. While doing these individual projects, I was able to figure out where to find the information and how to organize it in an effective way. The more I have done this, the more I developed a comfort zone which allowed me to imagine that a broader approach might be possible. If I need to provide a more philosophical reason why all this effort is reasonable, I would say that I believe our local history must be based on actual documentation that is analyzed objectively. Documentation of Brighton's history has been done very well in the past and we have a collection of excellent sources. However, in 2023, we have access to far more information, much more easily and cheaply, than ever before. That leads to more information and the opportunity to explain the development of our community in richer and more inclusive ways. As a historian and an old computer hand, I am excited by this opportunity to use my skills and energy to enhance Brighton's heritage landscape. Hopefully, others will support the project. Certainly, doing this work for urban properties is more complex than dealing with those in rural areas, simply because there are so many more individual properties and so much turnover in ownership over the years. It is a daunting challenge. However, the advent of OnLand.ca, the web site that contains all of Ontario's land registry records, has significantly changed the situation for projects like this. Now, I can find every page of land records for every property, right down to individual village lots on a street in the town. It is not simple, and is often infuriatingly obtuse, but experience is an effective teacher in this case. Having done Main Street, for the most part, I am confident that it is just a matter of time and energy before the whole town is completed. Certainly, that is the ultimate objective. Let's see ...