Ghost Towns of Muskoka

Submitted by dmacdonell on Sun, 2009-10-04 14:59

Ghost Towns of Muskoka

By Andrew Hind and Maria Da Silva

978-1-55002-796-9
June 2008
272pp, Paperback
$24.99 CAD

Shelve it

“The authors … state in their introduction that their book is intended as a resource for preserving the legacy of long forgotten communities. They hope that to read this book is to understand the development of Muskoka through the years and to gain insight into its unique character. I think they have succeeded.” - Judith Ruan, Muskoka Magazine

Ghost Towns of Muskoka explores the tragic history of a collection of communities from across Muskoka whose stars have long since faded. Today, these ghost towns are merely a shadow -- or spectre -- of what they once were. Some have disappeared entirely, having been swallowed by regenerating forests, while others have been reduced to foundations, forlorn buildings, and silent ruins. A few support a handful of inhabitants, but even these towns are wrapped in a ghostly shroud.

But this book isn’t only about communities that have died. Rather it is about communities that lived, vibrantly at that, if only for a brief time. It’s about the people whose dreams for a better life these villages represented; the people who lived, loved, laboured, and ultimately died in these small wilderness settlements. And it’s about an era in history, those early heady days of Muskoka settlement when the forests were flooded with loggers and land-hungry settlers.