The year is 688 A.D. … In southern Britain, King Ethelred of Mercia solidifies the hold his tribe has over a large portion of what will become Great Britain. In Ontario, corn will soon see a century of use as an agricultural product, mostly at the hands of the Huron along the east and south shores of Georgian Bay between Barrie, Midland and Collingwood. To the west of Georgian Bay, on the Bruce Peninsula, a seed from a white cedar starts growing — one of millions across the province. Skip ahead to the 21st century. That white cedar is still going. It’s the oldest tree in Ontario. In fact, the thin screen of trees that cover the Bruce has among it some of the oldest trees in the country. …These tough trees, often wizened tiny things for their age — in Michael Henry and Peter Quinby’s book, Ontario’s Old-Growth Forests, one is described as being “the size of a small Christmas tree” — have been hiding in plain sight for centuries.