The rare lands are one of the few places in the Grand River Basin where deposits from the last ice age can be found in the exposed bedrock (Burtt 2018). The presence of fossils such as corals and clams indicate that millions of years ago, rare was covered by a shallow, warm equatorial ocean. As the ice sheets retreated 11,000 years ago, the first humans to inhabit southern Ontario, the Upper Paleolithic peoples, arrived in the area. They are believed to be highly mobile peoples who likely hunted on land that is now a part of rare. Over the next 8,200 years, the land and the animals inhabiting it changed due to a changing climate. The tundra-like habitat transformed from grasses and stunted black spruce trees to forest, now including the northern range of the Carolinian forest. Around 1,000 years ago, the Neutral people began building semi-permanent farming communities, of which the Grand River floodplain, near present day Blair, was one (Burtt 2018).
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The “Dish With One Spoon” and other similar treaties have long been used since time immemorial by Indigenous peoples in what is now Ontario to describe how the land and all its resources are shared amongst all its inhabitants. (Lytwyn, 1997). It acknowledged that by sharing territory, different people were eating out of the same dish, and thus all sharing the spoon were responsible for taking care of it (Simpson 2008). This represented a treaty between not only people but with nature itself, and included taking into consideration the impact on all plants and animals and the next seven generations. (Nahwegahbow, 2014). This concept was used as the foundation of a peace treaty between the Haudenosaunee and the Anishinaabe Nations, who understood the treaty as a relationship that required regular renewal through meeting, ritual, and ceremony and one that came with both rights and responsibilities.  
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In 1613, the Haudenosaunee made the first agreement with a European settler nation, called the Two Row Wampum (Teioháte Kaswenta in Mohawk, and Aterihwihsón:sera Kaswénta in Cayuga) (Hill 2013). This agreement between the Haudenosaunee and the Dutch was based on three principles: friendship, peace and forever (Maracle 2015). Peace not just between the different nations, but the whole circle of life – the animals, birds, water, fish, plants, grass, trees, moon, stars, and the thunder (Jemison & Powless 2000). This treaty was later extended to other European nations such as the English and French.
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Over the 1600s and 1700s, The Haudenosaunee made several treaties and agreements including the Great Peace Treaty and the Nanfan Treaty. These treaties made peace with many other Indigenous Nations and European settlers. The Nanfan Treaty put the lands of the Great Lakes in protection of the British while giving the Haudenosaunee continued hunting and fishing rights (Ramsden 2006). In 1777, the Haudenosaunee supported the British and the Loyalists during the American Revolution, and as a result, they lost their homes due to rebel settlers burning many of their towns. After the war, many Haudenosaunee settled on lands alongside the Grand River, made possible through the purchase and transfer of the Haldimand Tract to them by the British Governor Frederick Haldimand. This land grant included lands that are now under the stewardship of rare. This history reminds us that treaties are a foundation of society in what is now called Canada, and that all people living in Canada are treaty people with rights and responsibilities. Understanding the colonial history of the country and our role and responsibilities as treaty people is an important step toward meaningful reconciliation.
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In 1835, about 230 acres of land along the Galt-Blair Road, including some of what is now rare, were purchased and promptly sold two years later to Matthew Wilks. This is the same year Lamb’s Inn, the location of rare’s main office since 2005, was built. It was one of the first stagecoach inns constructed in Upper Canada. The Wilks family grew the estate over the years until it was ultimately gifted to the University of Guelph, which took possession of it in 1973. Wilks Keefer’s original vision was for the university to conserve the property and use it for research and education, particularly agricultural research.
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In the mid-1990s, the University of Guelph explored opportunities to sell these lands, sparking a grassroots campaign from concerned citizens to ensure these lands were protected in perpetuity. As a result of this campaign, 913 acres were purchased as part of a new community-based conservation strategy. By February 2001, the land transfer was completed and, on December 6, 2001, the charity that would become the rare Charitable Research Reserve was incorporated as a community-based urban land trust, nature reserve and environmental institute. The Lamb’s Inn building and accompanying three acres were purchased in 2008, and an additional 93 acres were purchased and protected in 2010, adjacent to these lands. Since then, rare has grown to steward over 1,200 acres across eight properties across Waterloo Region and Wellington County.
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For all its properties, rare acknowledges and is grateful to all of the original stewards of the land. This land has been rich in diverse Indigenous presence since time immemorial. We would like to honour and respect the sovereignty of both First Nations in our area: the Onkwehon:we Peoples of Six Nations of the Grand River and the Anishinaabe Peoples of the Mississaugas of the New Credit. Nia:weh and Miigwech to these Nations who share their lands with us. We’d also like to acknowledge the Neutral people, for whom we have archeological evidence dating back 10,500 years.
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The name of rare

In October 2004, the Cruickston Charitable Research Reserved was renamed rare, beginning a new chapter in the stewardship of the property. The new name signalled an acknowledgement of the reserve’s history beyond that of the colonial time of the Cruickston Park estate, highlighting both the past and the future. Ever since then, volunteers and staff, with the support of hundreds of donors and many partners, have made tremendous programs towards rare’s vision of offering the community — including local Indigenous peoples, the international community, and future generations — a diverse network of connected natural areas, protected now and for the future.