Woodstock is located in the heart of South Western Ontario, at the junction of highways 401 and 403, 50 km east of London and 60 km west of Kitchener. Woodstock is the largest municipality in Oxford County, a county known for its rich farmland, and for its dairy and cash crop farming. As well as being "The Dairy Capital of Canada", Woodstock also has a large industrial base, much of which is related to the auto manufacturing industry.In 1792, Sir John Graves Simcoe became Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada and made plans for the development of the interior of Upper Canada. To speed development in the sparsely populated interior of the province, Simcoe granted whole townships to land companies who were obligated to bring in settlers.Settlement began in Woodstock in 1800. The early settlers were American immigrants from New York State. Increased immigration from Great Britain followed in the 1820s and 1830s, including the half pay officers Henry Vansittart and Andrew Drew.By 1833 Nathaniel Hill had cleared thirteen acres in the area where Vansittart Avenue meets Dundas. He built the Royal Oak Hotel which burned down in 1852 and was replaced by a brick structure. Most of the big houses were built in the 1870s and 1880s with some replacing more modest structures and some built on undeveloped land. The trees that line Vansittart Avenue were probably planted in the 1880s. Vansittart Avenue was designed, and still remains, as a living monument to the Victorian ideal of gracious living.