Exploring Parry Sound Ghost Cities

An article researched and written by Ontario author, Andrew Hind.

The lakes of cottage nation are lined with fabulous cottages that talk to joyful summers. Away from the summer season houses, nonetheless, the backroads are plagued by the detritus of ambitions unrealized: ghost cities, communities that lived for a time after which perished.

Retailer and Tanbark

The few scattered remnants of those failed desires —foundations right here, a wearily leaning constructing there—are revenants of useless communities. Exploring them could make for a fantastic street journey.

Here’s a temporary Parry Sound itinerary introducing readers to a pair of vanished villages.

Ashdown Corners

To open new areas to settlement, within the 1860s the provincial authorities started to construct colonization roads main into the wilderness of what right now we collectively name cottage nation.

The Nipissing Street, operating north from the shores of Lake Rosseau to the waters of Lake Nipissing, and the Parry Sound Street which ran east to west roughly alongside the route of recent Freeway 169, intersected just a few miles west of Rosseau. At this busy crossroads arose the hamlet of Ashdown Corners, which at its peak included a retailer, resort, blacksmith and carriage store, a church, faculty, a sawmill, and a sash and door manufacturing facility.

Low cost Money Retailer at Ashdown Corners

Exploring Ashdown Corners’ legacy begins within the village of Rosseau. Go to the splendidly atmospheric and historic -150 years in 2024 – Rosseau Normal Retailer. This mercantile has significance to our tour as a result of James Ashdown ran it after deciding Rosseau had a greater future than the neighborhood that bore his identify. Additionally, cease on the Rosseau Memorial Corridor on Victoria Road, which celebrated its centennial just a few years again, to learn a heritage plaque concerning the Nipissing Street.

Ashdown Corners plaque

Ashdown Corners lies to the west, however if you happen to don’t thoughts the detour first level your automobile north for Hekkla (by way of Aspdin Street, Bear Cave Street, and Hekkla Street). The Hekkla Church, you see, was as soon as the home of worship for Ashdown Corners. After the neighborhood’s demise, the church was moved right here for a brand new lease of life.

Backtrack to Freeway 169 and head east for its intersection with the Nipissing Street. A heritage signal marks the situation of the village coronary heart. Little stays. As farms fell idle, their fields had been reclaimed by the forests. Hidden amidst the bushes on the southwest nook are the remnants of a log construction. 

A couple of kilometres north on the Nipissing Street, the aptly named Cemetery Street takes us to the communal cemetery. It was deeded by Alfred and Eliza Sirett in 1885, but it surely’s very probably that this piece of land was already a household plot and that burials had occurred there earlier than this date.

Swords

Humphrey Museum

For our second ghosted neighborhood we flip north on Tally Ho – Swords Street. However maintain off on making that flip. A couple of minutes additional west is the pleasant Humphrey Museum, positioned in a former schoolhouse. It’s displays supply a window into the area’s historical past.

Faculty Home

After having fun with the museum, backtrack a bit to go to Swords.

Swords started within the Eighteen Nineties beneath the identify Maple Lake Station. The hamlet was huddled across the railway crossing, from which the sawmill on the shores of the close by lake shipped lumber to market. Farms carved from the forest stretched out in each compass course. The identify was modified to Swords, honoring the household that owned the final retailer and the Maple Lake Lodge.

Maple Lake Lodge

Many of the village is gone, however tantalizing remnants stay. You’ll first encounter the varsity, in-built 1904 and lovingly cared for as a neighborhood heart. Step contained in the creaking gate and discover the yard the place kids as soon as performed. Additional north is the atmospheric basic retailer, at present beneath renovation in a determined try to save lots of the historic construction. The resort stood throughout the street.

The previous railbed of the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway (OA+PSR), now the Seguin Multi-Use Recreation Path, runs previous the shop. A brief hike east alongside the railbed will likely be rewarded with the view of towering railway trestles spanning a ravine. The realm is so tranquil that it’s straightforward to think about that after as many as thirty trains a day handed by in a cloak of black smoke.

Now head for Parry Sound and the wonderful West Parry Sound District Museum. Amongst its insightful displays is one in every of OA+PSR – the road that introduced short-term prosperity to the shores of Maple Lake.

Depot Harbour

No journey to Parry Sound can be full with out a scenic cruise aboard an Island Queen cruise. Aboard, you get a glimpse at a bonus ghost city – Depot Harbour, the western terminus of the OA+PSR and as soon as one of many busiest ports on the Nice Lakes.

Learn extra from Andrew Hind.

Earlier than or after your ghost city journey, take advantage of your time within the area by exploring much more of what Ontario has to supply. From scenic cruises and charming small cities to outside adventures and seasonal festivals, there’s at all times one thing new to find. Discover ToDoOntario.com’s Issues To Do and the Lodging part of the web site to search out the perfect issues to do, locations to remain, and journey concepts throughout the province—your subsequent unforgettable Ontario expertise is only a click on away.