I was thrilled to write Timeless Hospitality: Historic Resorts of Muskoka. To see it published was the reward for several years of hard work.
I’m celebrating a milestone of another kind this year: twenty years of writing about Muskoka in varied periodicals, most recently Muskoka Life.
Over the course of these two decades, I’ve become intimately familiar with the region, especially the historical underbelly that I love to explore. I’m often asked to direct people to my favorite spots. Dundurn has asked me to do the same.
Here then are three of my favorite historic spots to visit whenever I can pull myself away from resort amenities.
Muskoka Lake Museum
The rich history of Muskoka is brought to life by the diverse collection of artifacts at Home in Port Carling. Exhibited items range from pioneer-era household items and logging tools to early outboard motors, a rare example of a Dippy (Disappearing Propellor Boat), and indigenous artifacts. It’s an impressive range.
The largest artifact in the museum's possession is a 19th century square-timber log cabin. Today it houses part of the collection. In the 19th century it housed the Hall family.
In 1875 George and Elizabeth, both of whom were brought to Canada by parents fleeing the Irish famine, brought their family to Muskoka settled at Glen Orchard. George built a log cabin of the white pine that blanketed his property.
George and his sons worked tirelessly to transform the forest into farm. They cleared and ploughed acres of land, cultivated crops, raised some livestock. In the winter, all the men in the family found employment in logging camps.
But prosperity eluded the Halls. Eventually George came to realize that the rocky, thin soil on the homestead simply wouldn’t adequately provide for his family. He sold his homestead and headed for fresh opportunity in Michigan.
The Hall Homestead, meanwhile, changed hands several times until it eventually sat empty. In 1982 it was purchased by the Port Carling Historical Museum (now Muskoka Lakes Museum) to serve as an expansion of their existing museum facility.
The Hall House is furnished in the 19th century manner and serves as an exhibit space and a window into the life of an early Muskoka settler.
Rosseau General Store
The Rosseau General Store – Est. 1874 has stood at the heart of its community for 150 years.
As one might expect, the store exudes nostalgic charm. The architecture speaks of another era, a time when horse and wagons rumbled along muddy roads and when the local economy was based not upon tourism but farming and logging. The front steps have been worn thin by the boots and shoes of thousands of feet over the years. Every footfall, every stair taken, carries you decades back in time. By the time you enter the store, you might as well be 1874 when the store opened. If you listen carefully the floorboards below whisper tales of the past.
One tale might speak of settler Alexander Crawford, who walked to the store to buy a cook stove. Returning home, he struggled under the weight of the stove slung over his back, only later learning that the store owner had generously placed a 100-pound bag of flour inside to assist the hard-pressed homesteader.
While village life has changed dramatically since those difficult early days, the general store has remained a constant.
It is still the place you can buy pretty much anything you need; the porch still offers welcome shade perfect for amiably chatting for a few moments; and the proprietors are as warm and welcoming as ever. After 150 years, the Rosseau General Store has lost none of its charm.
Rosseau Falls
Rosseau Falls is spectacular in the spring when the melting snow floods the Rosseau River. Here the Rosseau River pours into Lake Rosseau through a tempestuous 150-metre (492-foot) long chute. It is a spectacular natural scene with raging water tumbling over large rocks, backdropped by a spectacular vista.
For half a century these waters would have carried logs by the thousand down to gather in Mutchenbacker Bay below. These logs would have been felled over the preceding winter by lumberjacks – many of them desperate farmers trying to make ends meet - working at deep woods logging camps After the spring drive, the bay was packed so tightly with logs that one could quite literally walk from one shore to the next without getting wet feet.
Logging began in 1877 when Peter Mutchenbacker built a sawmill and shingle mill at the base of the falls here. A little hamlet named Rosseau Falls grew up in the shadow of these mills. The mills operated until the 1920s. With their closing the hamlet disappeared to be replaced by cottages.
Frenzied activity is long gone, replaced by serene beauty. Stop at the bridge and walk along the river’s banks for a panoramic view of the falls and distant lake.
The falls are located on Rosseau Road 3, about 1.5 kilometres (.9 miles) from Highway 141.
There is a second much smaller set of falls, called Upper Rosseau Falls, at the south side of Highway 141.