![](https://jamesreaney.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/JRSLW011-300x232.jpg)
Come celebrate Stratford Ontario’s literary heritage and take the Stratford Literary Walking Tour — James Reaney’s old high school Stratford Central Secondary School is one of ten stops on the way.
James Reaney was born and raised on a farm three miles east of Stratford in South Easthope Township, and he bicycled to and from high school every day for five years (1939-1944).
Between the highschool & the farmhouse
In the country and the town
It was a world of love and of feeling
Continually floating down
— From James Reaney’s poem “The Bicycle” (1962)
!["The Bicycle" illustration by James Reaney from Twelve Letters to A Small Town (1962)](https://jamesreaney.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JRTheBicycle-300x203.jpg)
For more of James Reaney’s Stratford and Perth County inspired writing, see the links below:
Plays:
Short stories:
♦ The Box Social and Other Stories (1996)
Poems:
♦ From Twelve Letters To A Small Town, “The Bicycle” (1962) and “Shakespearean Gardens” (1962)
♦ “Brush Strokes Decorating a Fan” (2005)
Perth County history:
♦ The Story of North Easthope (1982)
![August 2010 -- James Reaney's birthplace and childhood home near Stratford, Ontario.](https://jamesreaney.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/DSCN2765-300x225.jpg)