Settlement of Melancthon Township began in the late 1840s at the time of the construction of the Toronto-Sydenham Road. By the 1860s settlers had moved into the Shelburne area and in 1865 William Jelly, one of the community's earliest inhabitants, opened the British Canadian Hotel commonly known as Jelly's Tavern. Within a year, the settlement included a post office named Shelburne, after the Earl of Shelburne of Ireland. In 1872, William and his brother John surveyed a village plot in anticipation of the arrival of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway. Rapid economic growth followed. Shelburne is a town in Dufferin County, Ontario located at the intersection of Highway 10 and Highway 89. Shelburne is best known for the Annual Canadian Championship Fiddling Contest that is held each August. The hamlet of Laurel is located on the 5th Line (or Country Road 12) in the Township of Amaranth.