'Old Oxford is Wide Awake' is the story of Oxford County's first half century of settlement, and its transition from an utter wilderness, criss-crossed by Indian trails, to a properous farming region with a population of nearly 40,000.

It's also a story of increasing conflict between immigrants from the United States and those from Britain; of Tories and Reformers; of the 1837 Rebellion; and, finally, a compromise and the prospect of more stable times with the coming of the railways.