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POLLINATORS Little creatures that make a big difference
Celebrating a decade of creativity at The Albion 1 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
An integrated approach to Muskoka’s most precious resource The glory of Rosseau’s Grand Ol’ Lady
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...telling the Muskoka story
Features 11
[22]
The Power of Resilience – Lori Knowles
Article by Bronwyn Boyer Photography by Andy Zeltkalns With her debut novel, Summers with Miss Elizabeth, Lori Knowles [11] has crafted a story that spans years, introducing us to interesting characters and emotional subjects. Knowles used her own life experiences, living and cottaging in Muskoka, to create a diverse storyline to dive into while enjoying summer in Muskoka.
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The Early Days – Windermere
Article by J. Patrick Boyer The settlement of the Aitkens and the Fifes in Watt Township set the course for the village of Windermere to play host to tourists, during the late 1800s and into today. Windermere House and Fife House were operated by the families for generations, as other facilities, including golf courses, and resorts appeared and prospered in this small Muskoka village. [26]
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The Importance of Pollinators
Article by Meghan Taylor Pollinators, from birds and bats to bees, butterflies and other insects, are of critical importance to Muskoka’s ecosystems, pollinating the lush gardens, forests and shorelines for which the region is known. Use of pesticides, development of shorelines, early yard clean-up and loss of habitat are all impacting pollinators and the plants they support.
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The Grand Ol’ Lady – Rosseau General Store
Article by Kelly Goslin / Photography by Josianne Masseau First built in 1874 by Jerry Homer, Rosseau General Store is celebrating 150 years of community this year. Current owners Laurie McDonald and Brian Dollin have worked diligently to return the store to its former glory and to create a one-stop shop, reminiscent of its early years.
Opinion 9
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By Meghan Taylor
By Dan Watson
Muskoka Insights 4 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
Muskoka Moments
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 5
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JUNE 2024
POLLINATORS Little creatures that make a big difference
32
A Decade of Arts at the Albion
Article by Bronwyn Boyer Photography by Josianne Masseau A community of over 20 artists started and continue to bring Arts to the Albion. The revitalization of The Albion Hotel in Gravenhurst 10 years ago has served the co-operative group of artists, of all different kinds, well in displaying their varied works in a beautiful historic building.
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Protecting Muskoka’s Watershed
Article by Matt Driscoll The Muskoka Watershed is at a critical turning point. While currently healthy, several factors are degrading the watershed and the existing management system is not equipped to halt or reverse the negative trends. An integrated watershed management plan requires research, co-ordination and engagement across municipalities, organizations and the entire community.
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Taking the “Muskoka Cure”
Article by J. Patrick Boyer The health benefits of Muskoka’s clean air have been known by Indigenous people for thousands of years. As Muskoka was settled and became a tourist destination, taking the “Muskoka cure” became just one more reason to escape the pollution and hustle of city life.
Celebrating a decade of creativity at The Albion
Departments 54
What’s Happened
Article by Matt Driscoll A massive three-phase infrastructure project in Gravenhurst is impacting events, such as the Gravenhurst Farmers Market, at Muskoka Wharf this summer. The debate regarding services at the two Muskoka Algonquin Health Care hospital sites continues while the Rotary Club of Bracebridge brings back the Father’s Day Car Show. The Kee to Bala and the Huntsville Festival of the Arts announce their summer event line-ups. Visitors to Gull Lake Park can enjoy new amphitheatre seating and the launch of the biography The Endurable Alex Tilley is a smashing success.
An integrated approach to Muskoka’s most precious resource The glory of Rosseau’s Grand Ol’ Lady
Our Cover
Photograph by Andy Zeltkalns An estimated 95 per cent of plants on earth require help with pollination. Hummingbirds are just one of many creatures in Muskoka that support the ecosystem in this way. Pollinating a variety of flowering plants, some that have even evolved specifically for pollination by hummingbirds, they play an important role in the environment.
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Cottage Country Cuisine
Article by K.M. Wehrstein Photography by Tomasz Szumski Best known as an energy booster, coffee isn’t as one-sided as you may think. Coffee’s recognizable and inimitable deep nut-like flavour is much loved as an ingredient, whether in savoury marinades and sauces, desserts like tiramisu or the simple cup of coffee enhanced by a wide range of other ingredients into spectacular beverages.
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 7
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…telling the Muskoka story Unique Muskoka is published six times per year by Unique Publishing Inc. Meghan Taylor Publisher/Editor Donna Ansley Jennifer Montpetit Sales Lisa Brazier Marianne Dawson Design Susan Smith Administration
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Muskoka Insights escape from polluted cities, particularly those with health issues, which led to the opening of Canada’s first tuberculosis health centre in Gravenhurst. No matter the year, there is something inexplicable about Muskoka that draws people to the area. The beauty of Muskoka’s many waterways is a significant draw through the summer months. As regular contributor Matt Driscoll shares, Muskoka’s watershed is currently healthy but there are alarming trends showing degradation and no ways in existing plans to stop or reverse these impacts. The implementation of an integrated watershed management plan is critical to protecting Muskoka’s most precious resource. Muskoka’s history as a vacationer’s dream is also present in the structures that have lasted since the early days. Contributor Kelly Goslin shows the past and the present of the Rosseau General Store. Built in 1874, Rosseau’s Grand Ol’ Lady is now operated by owners Laurie McDonald and Brian Dollin, who have been dedicated to returning the building and the business to its former glory. The Albion Hotel in Gravenhurst, as regular contributor Bronwyn Boyer describes, has been given new life over the last 10 years by Arts at the Albion, a co-operative gallery operated by over 20 local artists. From the natural environment to the human-made structures and all the people who connect with Muskoka, there are endless opportunities to immerse yourself and bask in what the region has to offer. In this edition of Unique Muskoka, be entertained, informed and delighted by the stories shared and make certain to take some time to experience the quiet of a Muskoka morning.
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Embracing a quiet morning is something I’ve always enjoyed. Not quiet in the sense that there’s no sound at all. Quiet as in peaceful, slow and intentional. Mornings that give you space to think, to be still and to enjoy where you are. Often, those aren’t the mornings I get. There are things to do, places to be and in the rush to make it all happen, that quiet disappears. But usually once a week, often on Saturdays or Sundays, I get my quiet morning. I can sip my coffee, read my book and simply enjoy being present. As the mornings brighten earlier, even if the temperatures aren’t quite rising yet, I take my quiet mornings outside and hear the world come alive. There’s something about sitting quietly while the world wakes up around you that gives perspective. The sun shining, the trees swaying in the breeze, the birds calling and the squirrels and chipmunks foraging feels grounding. It’s a moment when you can just be, without pressure or expectations. It’s a moment to enjoy all that surrounds you. I hope you make time for your own quiet mornings, whatever that looks like for you. I hope you get to enjoy the summer sunshine as we move into the fleeting yet phenomenal days of a summer in Muskoka. For decades, summer in Muskoka has been the time for locals, vacationers and cottagers to enjoy the splendour of the landscape and partake in seasonal activities, from swimming to boating to hiking. There is always more to discover and appreciate about Muskoka. In this edition of Unique Muskoka, regular contributor J. Patrick Boyer recounts the rise of the “Muskoka cure” – taking in the healthful outdoor activities and environment that Muskoka has to offer. Indigenous Peoples referred to “the good life,” when people gathered, socialized, lived and shared what they had. As Muskoka was settled and turned to tourism, it became an
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Article by Bronwyn Boyer / Photography by Andy Zeltkalns
L Throughout her life as a journalist, Lori Knowles always wanted to be a novelist. This May, Knowles had the pleasure of launching her first book, Summers with Miss Elizabeth.
ori Knowles’ debut novel, Summers with Miss Elizabeth, has all the ingredients of an instant classic. Drawing on the dreamy, cinematic elements of summertime on the Muskoka lakes, the lighthearted summer read plunges to the darkest depths of the human condition. As a native resident of Muskoka, Knowles was immersed in both worlds her characters were born from. Growing up as a year-round resident who spent her summers enjoying the cottage lifestyle, this is a story she was meant to tell.
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 13
Knowles hopes people can see the multiple facets of Muskoka and of people – her characters are both wealthy and disadvantaged in various ways. Ultimately, she hopes people can feel immersed in the magic of a Muskoka summer. “I’ve always wanted to be a novelist, but I was pragmatic and wanted to have a career,” says Knowles. “So, I went to Carleton University for journalism and then started writing for newspapers and magazines. But in the back in my mind I kept saying, ‘Lori, you need to write a novel.’ I had a lot of starts and
14 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
very few finishes, but for some reason I was able to keep going with this one.” Knowles is best known as a former Toronto Sun columnist and current co-editor of Ski Canada Magazine. However, creative writing has always been her passion. “I was always writing and telling stories
as a kid,” she says. “I would exhaust people, because everything was an anecdote to me.” In high school, Knowles entered a short story contest put on by the local paper, The Herald-Gazette. “One of my teachers at BMLSS encouraged me to enter,” she recalls. “But I was too shy, so he suggested I use a
pseudonym. But then I won, and it took a long time for them to find me to award me the prize, because they didn’t know my real name. Then when I told a friend I won, she didn’t believe me.” Set from the 1970s to the 1990s, Summers with Miss Elizabeth is the coming-of-age story of four youth growing up under the wings of Elizabeth Wynward, a Pittsburgh steel company heiress with a century-old cottage in Muskoka. Like a female version of the Great Gatsby, Miss Elizabeth’s wealth and charisma make her irresistible. But beneath her glossy joie-de-vivre, she’s struggling to raise her two grandchildren, while trying to correct the mistakes she made with her daughter, who was not equipped to be a parent. Miss Elizabeth is also a powerful figure because she’s based on an archetype typically portrayed by men. “The cottage industry in Muskoka was founded on wealthy business moguls who built big, beautiful cottages and brought their staff there for lavish summer celebrations,” explains Knowles. “I thought it would be interesting to feature a woman at that time period who’s successful in a world that was largely male dominated.”
The protagonist, Colin Montgomery, orphaned as a small child, is taken in by Miss Elizabeth because she was best friend and employer to his grandmother. Colin enjoys all the benefits of being born into wealth and privilege. He has access to an idyllic cottage lifestyle alongside the Wynward grandchildren, Josie and Tim, and their best friend Alex. But when tragedy strikes, the family is torn apart. Fifteen years later, with Miss Elizabeth’s health failing, she pulls the puppet strings on Colin to make him bring her family back to her. Embroiled in the Wynward’s problems because of his undying love for them, Colin is part of the family when it’s convenient for them. The rest of the time, he’s an outsider. But despite being free of that difficult dynamic, the Wynward children are the ones who succumb to the pressures of a broken home. “Colin is a shy, gay kid in the ‘70s who was born with nothing but he has a better emotional foundation than the Wynwards,” says Knowles. “Because of that, he invests so much into fixing the Wynwards that he loses himself and his other relationships. He’s knocked down quite a few times but, in the end, he gains the strength to stand his ground.
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Lori Knowles’ debut novel, Summers with Miss Elizabeth, is set in Muskoka between the 1970s to the 1990s. Knowles drew on her own knowledge and experiences of life in Muskoka, as a year-round resident who spent her summers enjoying the cottage lifestyle. Being an outsider can be a lonely feeling but it can also be empowering.” The darker flavours in Summers with Miss Elizabeth are wrapped in layers of sunshine, humour, romance and frivolity. “I hope readers immerse themselves in
the waterskiing, sailing and fireworks in the book and feel the wind in their hair when the characters are racing across the bay in a boat,” says Knowles. If there is a lesson in Knowles’ writing, it’s about the strength of the underdog. “What
I hope people take away from the book is that power is not about money and position,” Knowles explains. “It’s not easy but Colin eventually stands up to the figures that he’s been afraid of his whole life. You have to dig deep, but you can do it.”
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part of the family
Photograph: Frank Micklethwaite / courtesy Bill Micklethwaite Archives
Photograph: Windermere Woman’s Institute Archives
By 1902, Windermere House was appearing more modern as its clientele changed. The central turret was replicated with a second turret added as the building was extended, the lawns extended, a stone retaining wall and improved walkway to the lake built, more lakeshore structures added and the wharf building painted, where many more fully-attired guests awaited a cruise ship.
Article by J. Patrick Boyer
I
n the 1860s, a Scottish settler from the Orkney Islands named Thomas Aitken arrived in Canada accompanying his sister, Ellen, and her husband, David Fife. The trio settled near Peterborough where widower Aitken met charming Mary Traill, a widow with two children. In 1870 Aitken and Fife decided better prospects awaited in Muskoka where the province was giving land to homesteaders. They left Peterborough with their wives, Aitken having wed Traill. Choosing lots beside Lake Rosseau in fertile Watt Township –
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satisfyingly named for their fellow Scot and steam-engine developer James Watt – they cleared land and began to settle. Soon A.P. Cockburn’s new steamer Waubamik, plying Lake Rosseau through the recently built Indian River locks at Port Carling, began calling along the lake’s eastern shoreline, using Aitken’s wharf and lakeside clearing for connections. When other log houses clustered near those of the Aitkens, Fifes, and Francis Forge, another homesteader who arrived when they did, Thomas applied to Ottawa for a post
Thomas Aitken was a quiet, solid, Scot whose industry and enterprise brought him to Muskoka looking for “a farm as flat as a pancake,” where he found instead that his Watt Township spread, while good for farming, was even better for accommodating city vacationers.
Photograph: Frank Micklethwaite / courtesy Bill Micklethwaite Archives
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In 1890 the photographer making Muskoka famous, Frank Micklethwaite, captured this image of the Windermere House wharf and lakeshore building where a dozen people readied themselves for action, also revealing the state of groundskeeping on exposed bedrock. office. The wee settlement, of which he now the hills of Cumbria. became postmaster, was named Windermere By the mid-1870s, enterprising Thomas BAT H picturesque & KI TC E N amidst SH OW ROOM for England’s lakeH nestling and hospitable Mary discovered facilitating DESIGN. INSTALLATION. REPAIR
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This full-frontal view of Windermere House and Fife House includes pleasure-craft boatbuilder Henry Ditchburn’s boathouse serving Windermere. In centre, atop the hill obscured by trees, is the Aitken’s General Store and Post Office serving the village community. from southern cities keen to fish Muskoka’s waters held promise. Thomas was not a natural hotelier but Mary’s friendly manner contributed a welcoming character to the place. In addition, her cooking of tasty meals, attentive making of guests’ beds and relentless cleaning of the premises launched their small resort, now named Windermere House, as a renowned destination for vacationers. Next door, David and Ellen caught on and opened their home as Fife House, increasing the village’s capacity to accommodate more southerners arriving for what was increasingly known as the “Muskoka cure.” The two homesteading families were creating an unexpected new economy for a district the government opened only for logging and farming. Neighbour Francis Forge remained devoted to farming, which contented him fully, especially because he was prospering on his fertile fields. Thomas Aitken converted his cleared fields into Muskoka’s first golf course, with greens of neat squares.
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In the wake of southerners arriving to fish and hunt came a second wave of city dwellers eager to enjoy additional northern lakeland sport, such as golf, tennis and watersports. Effecting the changeover to a moderated hinterland ethos, Mary Aitken’s refined tastes led to more elegant designs for the structures Thomas was continuously adding to Windermere House. Muskoka’s first resort houses had typically been decorated, for an ambiance enjoyed by hunting party guests, with stuffed heads of trophy moose and deer. Under Mary’s influence, the dead animals disappeared, replaced by oil paintings of Cockburn’s steamers crossing Muskoka’s lakes. Windermere House developed, as described by newspaper publisher George Boyer in Early Days in Muskoka, having explored the lake by canoe as a youth and visited the place, into “a commodious, well-appointed and attractive summer hotel with a continental reputation for fine service and friendly hospitality.” In 1924 the settlement was incorporated as a village in Watt Township. Henry
Photograph: Frank Micklethwaite / courtesy Bill Micklethwaite Archives Photograph: Frank Micklethwaite / courtesy Bill Micklethwaite Archives
This closeup of the 1898 front addition to Windermere House shows the Aitken’s progress in giving their summer hotel clean lines and stylish Victorian Era features, with well-dressed guests on the main floor balcony and grass lawn.
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Photograph: Boyer Family Archives
This artistic rendering shows Windermere House in 1883 at a further state of evolution with boating vacationers in the foreground and flag fluttering atop its three storeys, with open decks facing the lake. Longhurst, patriarch of another pioneering family, was elected first reeve. The two initial resorts continued to be owned and operated for generations by the Aitken and Fife families,
while other resorts and marina facilities appeared and prospered and the golf course extended to 18 holes, their greens now circles. The Aitken, Fife and Forge families created
a settlement and significantly more and are memorialized as pillars of early Windermere by a stained-glass window in the village’s handsome stone church.
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Pollinators Article by Meghan Taylor
A
A bumblebee, the classic image of a pollinator, is just one of many creatures who support plants in the ecosystem by transferring pollen in and between flowers to fertilize them leading to seed and fruit production. 24 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
pril showers are not the only ingredient required to bring May flowers. In most plant species, there are male and female plants. In order to produce flowers and fruit, the male plant must fertilize the female plant, which is referred to as pollination. Pollination occurs when pollen is moved within flowers or carried from flower to flower by pollinating creatures or by the wind. The transfer of pollen in and between flowers of the same species leads to fertilization and successful seed and fruit production for plants. Pollination ensures a plant will produce full-bodied fruit and a full set of viable seeds. “It is estimated that up to 95 per cent of plants on earth require help with pollination,” says Kate Dickson, outreach lead for The Land Between. “These plants include food sources, such as fruits, vegetables and nuts, plants that are commercially valuable for fibre and raw materials, as well as flowering shrubs and trees running from your shoreland to the forest. Plants are
Photograph: Tim Du Vernet
The importance of
grow more quickly and produce those showy garden flowers everyone loves to see. On the flip side of that, fallen debris, such as pinecones, leaves and twigs, and shoreline vegetation can all be important habitat for the critters who pollinate plants. “People often think of bees or butterflies when it comes to pollinators, but there are so many more species that act as important pollinators in t h e Mu s k o k a region,” explains Dickson. What can be considered by some as pests, are of critical importance to the balance of Muskoka’s ecosystems. Birds, bats, beetles, butterflies, moths, squirrels and other insects are all important pollinators. Much reviled mosquitoes and blackflies are even pollinators. However, the impact of humans on the land and waterways is also seen in the decline of several pollinator species. Species-at-risk in Muskoka, including the little brown bat, tricoloured bat, northern bat, yellow-banded bumble bee, monarch butterfly and mottled duskywing butterfly, play critical roles in the
ecosystem. Many of these species-at-risk and other pollinators in Muskoka live in shoreland area. Shoreland extends from the shallows of the water to 30 metres upland and maintaining native vegetation in these spaces helps to support 90 per cent of aquatic animals and 70 per cent of land-dwelling animals,
Installing bird feeders and planting native species of plants in the garden can help to attract pollinators.
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Species at risk, like the monarch butterfly, rely on disappearing habitats for their life cycle, which in turn impacts the plants the butterflies pollinate.
Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
the foundations or base of our entire ecosystems.” Initiatives like “No Mow May” sound simple and almost come across as a method of delaying yard work amidst unpredictable spring weather. However, as is so often the case, leaving lawns, gardens and shorelines alone through the spring thaw has much more significance to what’s happening below the surface, than what we see above. Spring is seen as a time to sweep, rake and otherwise tidy homes and yards before the busier summer season, when company comes calling. The plan is to remove debris so plants can flourish,
Photograph: Tim Du Vernet
As insect populations are impacted by development and use of insecticides, other pollinators, such as squirrels and birds, become even more important in the pollination cycle to ensure pollen and seeds are dispersed.
Milkweed, the only plant monarch butterflies will lay their eggs on, is in significant decline from development. The loss of one species of plant has far-ranging effects, for monarch butterflies and for entire ecosystems that rely on them. 26 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
native gardens can be curated to property owners’ personal preferences,” shares Dickson. Attracting pollinators to your yard can also take the form of bird feeders or bat boxes, to provide food and shelter. For those wary of finding bats in their umbrellas or gazebos, a well-placed bat box can provide a better solution for everyone. “Installing bird feeders can help birds that are in decline, but always be sure to purchase devitalized feed to ensure that things that don’t belong in our ecosystems don’t wind up there,” explains Dickson. While many insects are pollinators, birds and bats also rely on insects as a food source. The use of insecticides has a compound effect, removing necessary insects from the plant pollination process and reducing the food sources for birds, bats and other animals. “Insecticides are widely used in the Muskoka region to eliminate nuisance insects from properties,” says Dickson. “However, these insecticides, even those labelled as 'all natural,' are broad spectrum and indiscriminate with respect to which insects they kill. In other words, by using insecticides, propertyowners are likely unintentionally eliminating beneficial insects responsible for pollinating the plants we rely on.” The bottom line? A beautiful, lush garden and sustainable shoreline rely on pollinators, in all their forms. More pollinators lead to an improved habitat for all, humans included. Photograph: Andy Zeltkalns
including pollinators. “Restoring or 'naturalizing' shorelands with native vegetation restores this habitat for pollinators and other animals in the process while also offering a host of other benefits,” says Dickson. “These shoreland gardens can be completely customized and manicured with respect to height, fullness, and colour to provide any desired aesthetic.” Native plants are much more successful in attracting pollinators to an area than nonnative or ornamental plants, as the species have evolved together. Planting native g a rd e n s h e l p s t o regulate nutrient levels in soil, contributing to the health of the overall ecosystem. “ There are many beautiful, native plants to the Muskoka region and
The use of insecticides, which are often broad spectrum and indiscriminate in respect to the insects they kill, results in the elimination of beneficial insects responsible for pollinating plants. Insecticides also impact birds by removing a food source (insects) and can impact the health of birds themselves.
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The Grand Ol’ Lady
Rosseau General Store
Laurie McDonald and Brian Dollin have lovingly renovated and restored the Rosseau General Store since purchasing it in 2017. They insist they’re just the keepers and that the store belongs to the community.
Article by Kelly Goslin / Photography by Josianne Masseau
I
t’s a sunny spring day in the little town of Rosseau, Ontario. Nestled on the shore of its eponymous Lake Rosseau, this village with a year-round population of less than 300 is punctuated by quaint heritage structures and Muskoka’s picturesque landscape. The warm and inviting weather has drummed up some cottaging fervour and the narrow streets are lively. As you make your way through, you arrive at the main intersection, where there prominently stands a historic shop. In an instant, the Rosseau General Store transports you back in time and welcomes you to a bygone world, in the words of current owner Laurie McDonald, “like an old friend.” This year, that old friend celebrates 150 years in the community.
28 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
The Rosseau General Store was first constructed in 1874 by Jerry Homer, one of the many entrepreneurial spirits that hoped to find prosperity in Muskoka’s wilderness. He was quick to discover, as described by Terry Einarson, the son of previous store owners Fred and Esther, that this frontier community was unsustainable in the winter months. The business changed hands every few years, each new owner attempting to survive the region’s snowy bluster. The first signs of this effort coming to fruition appear to be found under the ownership of Edward Jordan. The timing of Jordan’s initial success coincides with the rise of tourism and cottage-driven economy in the region. By the mid-1880s, Lake Rosseau had evolved into a popular vacation destination, and with the change the store's offerings diversified to accommodate new visitors. By 1896, the Rosseau General Store satiated the need for a one-stop-shop to serve the rapidly growing number of settlers and visitors in the area. Much of the region’s successful development in this period is owed to the innovation of steamboat and nautical travel.
According to historian Andrew Watson, great ships like the 1866 Wenonah and later RMS Segwun enabled cottagers and travellers to access remote Muskoka. In addition, regular navigation on Muskoka’s waters throughout the 1870s and 1880s encouraged the promotion of Muskokan commerce as well as an influx of externally-sourced goods. In his article Supply Networks in the Age of Steamboat Navigation: Lakeside Mobility in Muskoka, Ontario, 1880– 1930, Watson describes the ingenuity of Lake Rosseau’s merchants. “Around 1880, Francis Forge had a novel idea,” writes Watson. “Witness to a growing number of visitors from the city eager to spend part of their summer embracing nature in Ontario’s northern wilderness, Forge recognized the perfect opportunity to market local farm products. Loading his rowboat with fresh foods bought and bartered from neighbouring farmers, along with whatever his own household had to sell, Forge rowed along the shore of Lake Rosseau selling what he could to tourists and cottagers.” At the Rosseau General Store, cottagers and northbound visitors throughout the 1890s onward could readily find anything they needed for Muskoka living, made available in-store through deliveries from the Constance. According to current owners Laurie McDonald and Brian Dollin, “the Constance served as the primary supply vessel
Customers of the Rosseau General Store can shop for a wide array of goods, including fresh meat at the butcher’s counter. June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 29
30 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
for Homer & Co.,” the name held by the store throughout the early Edwardian era. The Gravenhurst-built steamer transported goods through both Lakes Rosseau and Joseph until 1921. With the regular communication of provisions, the Rosseau General Store entered the twentieth century offering a notably wide range of goods and services, from groceries and hardware to postal and banking facilities. Despite the challenges of two World Wars and the Great Depression, the Rosseau General Store continued to thrive, adapting to changing times. Purchased in 1922 by James Brown, the store remained in his family’s ownership for almost fifty years. In the 1940s, Fred Einarson, nephew to James, was brought on board to manage the store, and he continued to commandeer the shop until 1967. Laurie McDonald and Brian Dollin purchased the “Grand Ol’ Lady” in March of 2017, only seven months after visiting the
The Rosseau General Store is a diverse medley of local arts and crafts, gift items and gourmet food items.
store for ice cream. “Brian and I always wanted to run a business together and we also have a real soft spot for heritage buildings,” explains McDonald. “When we became empty nesters, we decided to make a big change.” Leaving their corporate lives in the Greater Toronto Area, moving up to Rosseau, and purchasing the general store was a leap of faith and a significant departure from their known world. The four-story, nineteenth-century structure was in great need of restoration and renovation to bring it up to snuff. To cover the expense of this massive project, an eightyear undertaking, McDonald and Dollin needed to expand the General Store’s offerings
and revitalise the splendour that had defined it a century prior. Their efforts to bring back the all-in-one destination heralded by Homer & Co. have certainly succeeded. Under Dollin and McDonald’s careful stewardship, the store is a vibrant mix of old and new, antique fixtures and vintage photos sharing space with a wide array of contemporary goods. Where supports or joists needed to be replaced, those materials have been carefully repurposed elsewhere. An original beam now mantels the upstairs fireplace. Bricks from a defunct chimney have been reused to backsplash the fireplace and stove. Antiques from the store are being purchased and returned to their original situation and local artists are on board to celebrate and commemorate the shop’s legacy through their work. Visitors to the Rosseau General Store are greeted by the familiar sights and smells of a classic general store: the creak of wooden floors, the aroma of freshly baked bread and the enticing display of old-fashioned candy jars. However, it's also a trove of unique gifts, local arts and crafts and gourmet food items.
Brian Dollin and Laurie McDonald’s careful stewardship of the store has created a vibrant mix of old and new, antique fixtures and vintage photos sharing space with a wide array of contemporary goods.
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 31
Photos and items from years past decorate the space, showcasing the history of Rosseau and it’s Grand Ol’ Lady. Brian Dollin and Laurie McDonald have worked diligently to preserve the past while meeting the needs of their community and their customers. When asked about their part in the historic restoration project, McDonald firmly asserts that the story and life of the shop “is not about the owners.” “We are just the keepers,” says McDonald. “That store belongs to the people.” Their humility and deference to the building have been echoed throughout the decades of previous owners. All who have had the task of preserving the Rosseau General Store vehemently sustain it is more than just a place to shop; it is a social hub and a living piece of local culture and memory. Under Dollin and McDonald, it carries this responsibility through its outreach.
32 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
The Rosseau General Store regularly delivers to vulnerable members of the community, year-round, and has also begun regularly donating food to Rosseau’s local food bank. Now more than ever, the Grand Ol’ Lady recognizes the importance of giving back to the community that has supported her for so long. As the Rosseau General Store looks to the future, it remains steadfast in its mission to preserve the past while meeting the needs of the present. Visitors come to the shop to reconnect with their past, their families, and their traditions, traditions cherished by the shop’s timelessness. For the 150th anniversary of the Rosseau General Store, McDonald intends to celebrate with the store’s most beloved friends – the people of the community. Plans are made for a summertime picnic on August 10th, harkening back to the leisure of Muskoka’s past and plaque commemoration is in the works through Seguin Township. Above all else, McDonald and Dollin are excited to experience this momentous occasion with all who have shared space and memories with the Grand Ol’ Lady of Rosseau.
In the late 1800s, the Rosseau General Store began to see success with the rise of tourism and cottage-driven economy. The diversity of goods in the one-stop-shop continues today.
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A LABOUR OF LOVE
34 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
Article by Bronwyn Boyer / Photography by Josianne Masseau
W
hen Gravenhurst jeweller Penny Varney saw the “For Sale” sign outside the Albion Hotel just over 10 years ago, an idea lit up like a lightbulb in her mind. “I called the real estate agent and pitched the idea to put a co-operative art gallery in the old dining room and kitchen,” Varney
recalls. “The agent said she’d get in touch with the prospective buyer, and about five minutes later, I got a call from Guy Gagnon. He told me to meet him at the Albion right away and show him what I had in mind.” Since construction at the Gravenhurst wharf had forced Varney and eleven other artists out of their space at Muskoka Gallery by The Bay, the meeting was fortuitous. Gagnon was happy to help fill that void, and even applied for a grant to update the old wooden windows, which was no easy feat. Built in 1871, the Albion is a heritage building, meaning no changes can
be made to the exterior and windows fall into that category. Sadly, Gagnon passed away in 2022 after battling cancer. “It was a huge loss for us,” says Varney. “He was such an amazing landlord, very supportive and hands-on. When we had to close for four months during COVID-19 he told us not to pay rent and then when we tentatively started opening again with limited hours, he said just pay half to give us a chance to recover. He also bought a lot of artwork from our gallery over the years.” After that auspicious meeting with Gagnon in 2013, Varney gathered a list of artists and started making calls. She started with people who had been part of Muskoka Gallery by the Bay, the Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour and
Originally built in 1871, the Albion Hotel is a landmark in Gravenhurst that has had new life as a gallery for the past 10 years. The co-operative art gallery, with over twenty artists on display, is a testament to the dedication, determination and love the artists have for their work and their community.
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 35
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Muskoka Arts and Crafts. Before long, she had rallied 20 artists and Arts at the Albion was born. For a few months, they met at Varney’s house once a week to brainstorm ideas and plan it all out. Gravenhurst painter David Dawson was one of the founding members and his background as an architect and interior designer was an asset in bringing the gallery to fruition. To complete his design, the co-op members first got to work ripping up layers of old carpeting, staining the original hardwood floor and painting the walls. Then, they built and installed Dawson’s displays and lighting concepts. “Designing the layout for 20 people was a challenging but interesting project to work on, especially in a historical building,” Dawson recalls. “The concept was to give each artist their own gallery space to allow the viewer to immerse themselves in each artist’s works.” That meant figuring out what kind of lighting was best for each work, whether it should be near the natural light of the windows or not, what looks best for two-dimensional works versus three-dimensional displays for sculptures and other items. “It was quite an undertaking but it was fun,” says Dawson. “Everyone had skills that helped make it all happen. Some knew about woodworking and carpentry, so they built the displays. Others did metal work, so they made signage and railings. It’s been a good experience, coming up with design solutions. It’s like a living organism, as artists come and go over the years, I have to make adjustments.” Although the roster at Arts at the Albion has changed over the years, there is always a wide variety of artwork to discover, both aesthetic and functional. Woodworkers, painters, basket weavers, photographers, stone carvers, potters, fibre artists, and jewellers contribute their pieces to be purchased, perused or used in the design of the gallery itself. The co-op members also converted the reception area of the old hotel into a classroom that can be rented out for classes and workshops, creating a symbiotic relationship between the co-op and the community. During the summer, guest artists can also display their work, which gives artists a more flexible option to use the space. “We each pay a certain amount each
art at the albion feature Gravenhurst jeweller Penny Varney remembers well the day she saw a “For Sale” sign outside the hotel in 2013, immediately calling the real estate agent and pitching the idea of a co-operative art gallery. Ten years later, the gallery continues its success.
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 37
month,” Varney explains. “So as a way to keep the price down, we started bringing in guest artists to help supplement our income. They display for a month, and there’s no commission because they pay a set amount to be there. We only take them in during the busier season
38 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
from May to December, and they do quite well during those months.” Building on the success of Arts at the Albion, Varney also recently had another brainwave. After the Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour closed down, she started the Gravenhurst Arts Festival
in 2023 to fill its shoes. “It’s going to be every last weekend in September and any artist can be a part of it for a $100 entry fee,” says Varney. “The Town of Gravenhurst has the budget for advertising and promotion, so it worked out well. We had
art at the albion feature Artists who belong to the co-operative pay a monthly amount to display their work, as well as working shifts in the gallery. To keep costs down for the members, the group began welcoming guest artists to display their artwork as well as renting out the former hotel’s reception area-turnedclassroom for workshops and classes.
39 artists set up at various places downtown, like the train station, the opera house, the wharf and, of course, Arts at the Albion was open. It was a beautiful weekend and people just parked their cars and walked to each display, which was a wonderful thing.”
Bracebridge hinterglas painter Bonnie Bews is one of the original members of Arts at the Albion. “We’ve hit a big milestone, so we’re quite pleased about that,” says Bews. “It was the first time I was part of a co-op and the idea appealed to me because of how we all take care
of each other, which is a big advantage.” Bews also remembers the labour of love involved in transforming the dining room and kitchen of the old hotel into an art gallery. “We were all so determined,” Bews recalls. “We were able to take David Dawson’s design
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 39
and figure out how to make it all happen in a couple months’ time. It works really well, it’s just a great environment with a great feel to it. You can just imagine the history the building has had and being able to enjoy artwork there makes it a very creative space.” Each co-op member takes a turn working at the gallery for a day or two a month. While some artists might see this as a disadvantage, the advantages outweigh it for Bews. “We work our shifts every month or so, and its great because the public has a chance to talk to all the artists in one place, rather than travelling to each studio and gallery,” Bews explains. “It’s also easier to promote and talk about another artists’ work than your own, so that really helps. I’m selling more through the Albion than in my own studio because it gets more people to come out to my studio after seeing
my work there. It’s also more convenient to have my art on permanent display, rather than having to worry about being in my studio if someone drops in.” To celebrate their 10th anniversary, Arts at the Albion will be hosting a gala event this year and a Retroactive Exhibition in September. For the exhibit, all the artists who’ve ever been a part of the co-op will be asked to come back and bring in a specially selected piece of work, which will be displayed in the classroom for the month. “It will be an exciting walk down memory lane,” says Bews. “It will give people a chance to see artwork from members who’ve moved, retired, or for whatever reason hasn’t been available. For the first time in many years, people can come see or buy those pieces again.” Arts at the Albion has been sharing diverse artistry with the community and its visitors for 10 years and aims to continue that tradition for many more years to come.
David Dawson, a Gravenhurst painter and one of the founding members of the co-operative gallery, put his skills as an architect and interior designer to use in designing the space. Working within the constraints of the building being historic, Dawson gave each artist their own individual space so visitors can immerse themselves in the various works. 40 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
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June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 41
Managing all aspects of Muskoka’s watershed with an integrated plan, means the plan must be crafted to include the management of natural resources and human activities, and to factor the environment, the economy and society into the research and decisions.
Article by Matt Driscoll
R Photograph: Matt Driscoll
Photograph: Tim Du Vernet
Saving our most precious resource demands integrated management
42 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
unning from its headwaters in Algonquin Park to the shores of Georgian Bay, through more than 40 dams and criss-crossing over a dozen municipal jurisdictions, the Muskoka River watershed is perhaps the region's defining feature. For the past several years, like-minded groups in Muskoka have been gradually moving towards the creation of an integrated watershed
management plan. Such a plan would incorporate the management of human activities and natural resources together on a watershed basis. The goal is to take into consideration the connected interests and needs of the environment, economy and society to protect Muskoka’s watershed. “Integrated watershed management plans have been developed and implemented by different groups and organizations all across
Photograph: Amanda Porter/Muskoka Conservancy Photograph: Muskoka Conservancy
Protecting and conserving land, as Muskoka Conservancy does with its properties, ensures significant habitat such as wetlands and natural shorelines are maintained to support the ecosystem and the presence of species-at-risk, like this Blanding’s turtle.
Initial phases of Muskoka’s Integrated Watershed Management Plan require significant research. Currently, education and awareness are the focal points, as gathering additional details from research will take time.
North America, Europe and even in third world countries but not here in Muskoka,” says Kevin Trimble of the Muskoka Watershed Council. “The drivers of an integrated watershed management plan can vary. They can be focused on water quality or forestry or commercial fisheries or a number of other factors. Here in Muskoka, it can be a little more difficult to see those drivers. People come to Muskoka and they see the watershed and everything looks rosy but there are trends which are disturbing and difficult to see.”
According to Trimble, who has more than 30 years of experience in watershed ecology, the Muskoka watershed stands at a crucial turning point. While currently healthy, the watershed is degrading in several ways and the existing management systems appear to be incapable of halting or reversing the negative trend. “We need an integrated watershed management system capable of dealing with the multiple stressors our iconic environment now faces,” Trimble states.
The District of Muskoka and several local groups formed the Muskoka Watershed Council. The Watershed Council has now taken the reins on the creation of an integrated watershed management plan. The current focus is on education and awareness and Trimble stresses they are only at the initial stages of creating a plan that will take years to complete. “Right now, we're working on engagement with Non-government organization and other community groups as well as First Nations and municipalities to try and generate as much
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 43
The majority of Muskoka’s wetlands currently remain intact, unlike much of southern Ontario. Protecting these wetlands is essential for overall watershed health.
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interest as possible,” says Trimble. One of the Watershed Council’s immediate goals is to emphasize the cross-municipal nature of watershed impacts. They hope to continue to engage the community via a community round table tasked to establish a common vision and goals for all sectors concerning the health of the watershed economy and community. Trimble says by early 2025 they would like to have a governance structure in place before professionally scoping their plan. The end goal would be to have a working plan in two to three years. The Muskoka River Watershed is facing a number of different pressures ranging from increased development and climate change to the effects of road salt and management of invasive species. The watershed management plan must be informed by science and include the management of natural resources and human activities in conjunction. It must also consider the needs and interests of not only the environment but also the economy and society. While many of the stressors are invisible to the casual observer, one growing concern that is painfully obvious is flooding. The region has been hit with significant flooding events on multiple occasions over the past decade, most notably in 2019. Flooding creates emergency situations which often lead to knee-jerk reactions from the municipalities and property owners affected. Trimble cites a request to the province this year demanding the Muskoka River Water Management Plan be opened up for quick
Photograph: Muskoka Conservancy
the upper-tier municipality in partnership with the Muskoka Watershed Council. Glen Cunnington was brought on by the District of Muskoka shortly after their announcement as their watershed programs manager to help implement those 12 projects. “Through those projects we've been able to accumulate a considerable amount of information and now we can act on it,” says Cunnington, who holds a PhD in road ecology
and a master’s degree in watershed ecology. Among the more interesting findings was an improved watershed mapping strategy which revealed a previously unseen 95,000 hectares of wetland in addition to previously unknown wildlife habitats. Cunnington explains the consultants were able to discover the new wetlands by taking the existing aerial photos from the District's Geohub program and using AI and other technologies to further study
Photograph: Muskoka Conservancy
flooding fixes, as one such reaction that is unhelpful in the long run. “It's a backward and economically unsound way to fix our problems,” says Trimble. The root causes of the flooding may begin in areas far outside the municipality's jurisdiction. The Watershed Council has been visiting various municipalities in the region to spread the word on an integrated watershed management plan but with 13 lower-tier municipalities located in the Muskoka watershed, logistics are complicated. Muddying the waters further, 12 of those municipalities have multiple watersheds within their geographic area. In most other parts of Ontario where an integrated watershed management plan exists, it has been designed and implemented by a conservation authority, an organization that does not currently exist in Muskoka. “Those plans have typically been created in more of a top-down fashion and we really want to do this as a collaboration,” says Trimble. In 2019, the Muskoka Watershed Advisory Group (MWAG) was created to advise the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks on watershed issues including integrated watershed management. In 2020 MWAG provided a report to the Ministry highlighting the different issues facing the Muskoka River watershed. The following year the province announced $5 million to help fund 16 projects across the watershed. Twelve of those projects were within the District of Muskoka and primarily under the lead of
In other parts of the province, where an integrated watershed management plan exists, a conservation authority has designed and implemented it. In Muskoka, no such organization currently exists. June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 45
Photograph: Muskoka Conservancy
The implementation of 12 projects in the District of Muskoka, funded by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, have led to many findings, such as an improved watershed mapping strategy which revealed a previously unseen 95,000 hectares of wetland in addition to previously unknown wildlife habitats. indicators such as ground cover. The consultants then followed up with “ground-truthing,” wherein they follow up the digital imaging with boots on the ground. “We found there was a very high success rate,” Cunnington shares. “We can now take that information and incorporate it into things like our official plan to reflect the mapping.” Other projects included a baseline hydrology model that incorporates the ecological structure and dynamics of the Muskoka River Watershed and characterizes its functions. That includes how floods originate and how they're distributed across the watershed, the cost-benefit analysis of watershed management actions and the influence of climate change and land use on flood potential. Other projects included expanded floodplain mapping, a water management plan review scoping study and an examination of watershedscale flood mitigation options. The district hired a new staff member this year to help follow through on some of the initiatives laid out as part of those 12 projects. Cunnington says that information could be used to help create an integrated watershed management plan when the time comes. “Each watershed is unique and one of the things that makes Muskoka unique is the topography and variations in landscape,” Cunnington says. “We have areas that are very hilly and steep in the north down to flat areas
46 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
near Georgian Bay. That changes how the water moves through the area and can create pinch points which can cause problems with flooding.” Trimble says nature-based green solutions to help decrease flooding are currently being reviewed. As part of an integrated watershed management plan, those solutions would likely include working on wetlands in one region of the watershed to help prevent flooding in another. Another key difference with Muskoka is, unlike in southern Ontario where the majority of the wetlands have been lost to development and agriculture, the majority of Muskoka's wetlands remain intact. The watershed consists of 15 sub-watersheds stretching over 5,100 square kilometres emptying into southeastern Georgian Bay. The 2,000-plus lakes in the watershed are home to 30 different species of fish, 250 different species of birds, 50 species of mammals and 35 species of reptiles and amphibians. The Muskoka Conservancy currently protects 56 different properties in the area, including some 64,279 feet of riparian area, also known as shoreline area. Scott Young, executive director of the Muskoka Conservancy, shares that the Conservancy fully supports the work of the Watershed Council. “Muskoka Conservancy’s nature conservation activities include protecting over 4,600 acres (18.6 square km) of land including wetlands
and natural shorelines that absorb snow melt and rainwater like giant sponges slowing the flow and mitigating potential flooding,” says Young. Many of those land holdings are protected because they feature habitats for species at risk, like Blanding’s turtle, Canada warbler and five-lined skink. They also protect key ecosystems for iconic Muskoka species like the common loon, moose, and black bear. “Muskoka would not be what it is without nature,” comments Young. “Protecting natural areas is essential work for the overall watershed health of Muskoka and we’re interested in any measures that help protect the unique, natural assets that define Muskoka. We’re happy to note that many Muskoka residents understand we have something here worth protecting and support for the Conservancy and other environmental organizations remains strong.” An integrated watershed management plan for Muskoka is likely still years away but organizations like the Muskoka Watershed Council stand behind the belief that such a plan is a necessity to maintain the integrity of our local waterways and ecosystem. To that end, the Muskoka Watershed Council and their partners say they will continue to push the agenda forward while drawing in the help of the many organizations, businesses and municipalities that depend on a healthy watershed.
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Photograph: H. Oakman, Gravenhurst Archives
From the initial launch of Canada’s first tuberculosis sanatorium in clean-air Muskoka at Gravenhurst in 1897 came many more TB treatment centres in the same setting on Muskoka Bay, as this aerial photo shows, with Muskoka Cottage Sanatorium on the right and the sprawling Muskoka Hospital for Consumptives on the left built in 1923, among others.
Article by J. Patrick Boyer
O
ne of Muskoka’s most ephemeral attributes is an integral component of the district’s mystique. First experienced by Indigenous peoples as Nahbewahsumin or “the good life,” AngloCanadian settlers came to call it the “Muskoka cure.” The health benefits of being in Muskoka were widely known thousands of years ago is attested to by Indigenous artifacts connecting people from as far north as James Bay, south
48 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
of Lake Michigan and further east, who arrived for summer experiences on Beausoleil Island in today’s Georgian Bay Township of the district. This traditional practice continued into recent times, the memory of which elder Leon King of Beausoleil First Nation recalls. “As soon as you got here, you could feel joy, that gladness in your heart of what is here, the spirituality, the good things,” explains King. “You could come to trade for furs and things you needed like pots, seashells and plants, flints
and medicines, dried fish and berries.” Yet Beausoleil encompassed more than trading between distant way finders canoeing to Muskoka. “When they gathered, they used to also have social dances, maybe weddings, ceremonies, namings, different things people enjoyed,” shares King. “They called it Nahbewahsumin, the good life, when people lived and gathered together and shared everything they had. They feasted together. They sang together. They
Photograph: Candice Jones Collection, Gravenhurst
danced together. They did a lot of sharing here.” When non-Indigenous homesteaders began arriving in Muskoka during the 1860s, younger city folk on their heels came exploring the northern lakeland. Several began a summer vacationing colony on Lake Joseph, as D.H.C. Mason has recounted in Muskoka’s First Islanders, and they, likewise, shared food, song, dancing and everything together. In 1864 they formed The Muskoka Club whose members returned for migratory summer enjoyment, singing “From Island to Island like sea birds we roam / The Lake is our pathway, the forest our home.” These young men and women felt better just being in Muskoka. The good life phenomenon had migrated – because of the setting – into a similar wilderness experience of non-Indigenous people, known in city circles as “taking the Muskoka cure.” This elixir for body, mind and soul blended the Canadian Shield’s pure clean waters, prevailing fresh breezes from Georgian Bay and heady scents of white pines and rockcovering moss. Muskoka’s healthful conditions
Photograph: Gale Archives, West Park Healthcare Centre
Among patients in need of treatment at Gravenhurst’s tuberculosis facilities were soldiers of the First World War whose lungs were seared in poison gas warfare on the Western Front in Europe. Returned to Canada aboard hospital ships, a number of soldiers with such wounds, received treatment at the Muskoka Free Hospital for Consumptives opened in 1902.
Countless people found Muskoka’s clean pure air, free to breath at will, a benefit of life in the district. Facilities providing direct access to the Muskoka cure, such as sanatoriums and fresh air camps for children, institutionalized this dimension of district life. At Canada’s first TB sanatorium, as seen here, raised veranda ward windows allow full doses of the fresh air cure. offered escape from polluted air, soil contamination, foul water and ill people jostling in close quarters of cities. The district’s healthful living was publicized and promoted by two energetic champions:
A.P. Cockburn, who in 1866 introduced steamship transport on Lake Muskoka with Wenonah, and Thomas McMurray, who in 1869 launched the Northern Advocate as the first newspaper in Ontario’s northern districts.
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 49
Photograph: O’Brien Family photo
When Brendan O’Brien wrote about early Muskoka, he included this photo in his chapter “The Good Life” which was all about the sports, boating, gardening and hiking which seasonal Muskokans from the city enjoyed in the district’s great outdoors. In this case, the O’Briens and the Frasers partook of a family picnic on Fraser Island, Lake Joseph in 1912.
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In addition to formal invitations sent to Toronto high society and medical people across Canada, this flyer from Grand Trunk Railway spread word of a special train making a daytrip from the city’s Union Station to Gravenhurst (round trip fare, $2.75) for the official opening of Canada’s first tuberculosis sanatorium in fresh air Muskoka.
es Collection, Gravenhurst
their advertising. Another was summertime air temperature: hot in the day which encouraged swims, resting in a shaded hammock reading a book or simply letting the heat go to your head in a passionate way or making a cooling drink more enjoyable; dropping at night to make a campfire pleasant and sleeping comfortable. The cool night air made sound sleep part of one’s beneficial Muskoka vacation. With so many prominent and wealthy Americans involved in the district – building early resort hotels, financing logging operations, establishing summer estates like Millionaires’ Row at Beaumaris on Lake Muskoka – the Muskoka cure became wellknown in the United States, too. While Woodrow Wilson was president of Princeton University, his physician cautioned the oftenill patient to “keep a light schedule,” which Woodrow and his wife Ellen happily achieved in Muskoka, with their three daughters, initially for two summers at The Bluffs on Lake Rosseau, then in their own cottage on Formosa Island, before he went on to become president of the United States in 1912. When Andrew Mellon became U.S. Secretary of the Treasury in 1921, the Pittsburgh billionaire had less time to visit the Mellon Family’s Lake Muskoka estate. By the 1890s, with tuberculosis an unchecked disease, Sir William Gage, a philanthropic Toronto publisher grown wealthy selling textbooks to schools, toured tuberculosis clinics abroad and returned determined that Canada, too, must have a sanatorium for those whose lives were being wasted by consumption. He offered $25,000 ($858,000 today) towards the cost of a tuberculosis centre and wanted it to be in “the perfect spot.” Photograph: Judy Humphri
In 1870 they teamed up to invite Canadian newspapermen from the cities so they could tour them around on the steamboat, feed them information and ensure hard-drinking newspapermen achieved true insight. Editors, as captives in paradise, would see for themselves what a grand place Muskoka was and just how narrow, sour, and wrong the criticisms circulating about the government’s free lands for homesteaders were. In the summer of 1871, the Canadian Press Association’s editors and newspapermen duly reached Muskoka and aboard Wenonah McMurray and Cockburn vied to outshine each other with factpacked addresses to the enchanted scribes while the Advocate’s editor, James Boyer, circulated the decks, answering questions while refilling every glass. Returning to their city newsrooms after their welllubricated and closely guided tour of the district’s scenic splendour, the men of the press glowingly informed thousands of readers that Muskoka was one of Canada’s most promising places, easily three-quarters of it ideal for farming and all of it ideal for the purity of its air. News of the Muskoka cure spread. Muskoka’s first wave of vacationers were active adventurers, many making fishing and hunting parties of men and women. Then more came north for water sport, hiking and boating. Whatever their pleasures and diversions, all got ample exercise in fresh air. They were drawn for northland action and to escape the hustle of the city. By the late 1800s, cities like Toronto were proud of their signs and smells of industrial prosperity as tall smokestacks belched dense black smoke from factories and steam engines rolled through the city to and from Union Station spewing more soot into the air. Housewives harvested freshly washed shirts and bedsheets from their clotheslines that were clean but even greyer. Two major steelproducing cities, Hamilton in Ontario and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, were suspended in a fog of pollution year-round, worse in summer’s intense heat, causing wealthy owners
of the steel mills and ironworks to board Muskoka-bound trains, escaping their boiling factories and sweating workers to enjoy the pristine conditions at their lakeside estates paid for by their employee's continuing labours. Clean, fresh air was the medical profession’s best prescription in the late-1800s when tuberculosis was claiming the lives of so many. Doctors began recommending patients with respiratory ailments of any sort to head north to Muskoka. In 1875, travel from urban centres in southern Ontario and northern tier American states became fast and convenient because railway service was now open to Gravenhurst and connected directly on Muskoka Wharf with steamships taking city escapees up the lakes to the district’s growing number of resort hotels. Those running the summer lodgings offered guests large portions of fresh food from the immediate vicinity, knowing people’s appetites grew in Muskoka with fresh air and exercise. Such diets, too, contributed to good health. A notable feature of the pure air in Muskoka was the absence of pollen that triggered hay fever – a benefit featured by many resorts in
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 51
Photograph: Susan Brenciaglia photo
Of the many ways to benefit from active outdoor life in fresh air Muskoka, trail riding is less featured than the lakeland’s water sports but horseback riding for city vacationers, led by a seasoned Muskokan, was a constant and popular activity. Here seven riders trail a farmhand at Lang Moffat’s “Wonderview Farm” near Peninsula Lake. Among leading Toronto physicians advising Gage was Dr. William Canniff, the city’s longserving medical health officer. Since the 1870s William had summered in the district and valued Muskoka’s healthful environment. In 1895, opting to live a year-round vacation, he opened a medical practice in Port Carling. On
May 7, 1895, readers of the Toronto Globe read Canniff’s letter saluting Gage for seeking to establish a tuberculosis hospital and recommending “a summer home for consumptives” be established in Muskoka. Gage became “intrigued enough by the idea of building a summer treatment home in
Muskoka,” notes Andrea Baston in her book Curing Tuberculosis in Muskoka, “to contact the Grand Trunk Railway authorities” who offered “a railway car free of charge each spring and fall to transport needy tuberculosis patients to and from Muskoka.” Gravenhurst councillors saw the need for
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In his book By Track and Trail Through Canada, Edward Roper wrote of Muskoka, “It is said to be very healthy, bracing and invigorating; doctors send their patients up to recuperate.” Here a TB patient has come to the Calydor Sanatorium, opened at Gravenhurst in 1916, to live in a tent-cottage, where he is seen with his nurse, for treatment with Muskoka’s healthy clean air. such a facility for Canadian tuberculosis patients and its importance for the local community so they approved $10,000 as the town’s contribution to its cost, pooled with Gage’s $25,000 pledge and other substantial gifts including another $25,000 donation from tractor manufacturer Hartland Massey, whose 23-year-old son died from tuberculosis. On August 21, 1897, Muskokans mingled with a trainload of dignitaries from Toronto as all converged on the east side of Muskoka Bay, in formal attire befitting a Victorian Age official ceremony, thrilled to be participating in a moment of Canadian history. Muskoka’s great promoter, A.P. Cockburn, keen to make the official opening a major event with the largest possible crowds, enticed hundreds from further up the lakes with special event reduced rates on his steamboats. Ontario’s Chief Justice Sir William Meredith presided over the ceremonies. Prominent businessmen and medical representatives from across Canada delivered moving speeches, none failing to mention the importance of a fresh air location and the Muskoka cure. It was a national happening, a Canadian milestone. The sanatorium’s grand opening created far-reaching ripples. Passengers who
came to Gravenhurst for the event aboard Cockburn’s steamers – a mixture of wellconnected city folk from resorts, owners of Muskoka businesses, members of the Muskoka Lakes Association, newsmen from Bracebridge’s two newspapers and others – were impressed as leading Canadians in medical, legal and political realms waxed eloquent about Muskoka’s curative abilities, boosting the importance of Canada’s first tuberculosis treatment centre being located in the district. Those returning to Toronto and points beyond carried word of the memorable experience and imparted their indelible impressions about the esteemed Muskoka cure. Those heading back up the Muskoka Lakes also had wide circles of contacts, associates and friends who heard about the singularly important development in Muskoka. Whether full-time or seasonal residents, Muskokans spread the word. It elevated property values, aided their businesses and gave another dimension to brag about the Muskoka cure when publicizing the district or talking with tourists. The “Muskoka Cottage Sanitarium” – yearround, part hospital, part resort – was Canada’s first treatment centre for tuberculosis patients
whose three-word name said it all. Muskoka was the healthful place of clean air, cottage tapped into the coveted allure of a second home, a country place close to nature, connoting the simplicity and casual setting it would facilitate and sanatorium was a dignified name for a treatment centre, a step above “refuge for incurables.” And, true to these meanings, patients had open-air verandas, wide-screened windows, lounge chairs under the trees, sleeping cots in canvas tents and heavy coats and blankets while reclining outdoors and inhaling cold winter air. Muskoka Cottage Sanatorium put humans directly into nature’s healing embrace. The absence of air-borne pollutants from factories, combined with crisp clean breezes wafting across pristine waters, pine forests and rocky outcroppings, completed the curative prescription. By offering hope for those with a deadly disease, the Muskoka Cottage Sanitarium began a new chapter for Muskoka as a place of healing. Being a patient in Muskoka became a status symbol, especially with many a member of some prominent Canadian family. Opening a new dimension to the Muskoka cure, the sanatorium's success led to opening others
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 53
Photograph: Gravenhurst Town Archives
nearby. With critical mass achieved, Gravenhurst became preeminent in tuberculosis treatment. Another boost for healthful Muskoka living with clean air, fresh water and outdoor activity came when railway companies began stirring up fares by generating favourable publicity. At the height of the steam era before automobiles, with railways dominating passenger service, they launched so much promotion of healthy holidays and great contact with nature that the Muskoka cure became a further enticement for holiday-makers and railway companies became the district’s publicity department. In 1888, a map of “The Muskoka District of Ontario” in Mercer Adam’s Muskoka Illustrated highlighted railway links with southern Ontario and the U.S. and the railways created large posters displaying the same. This became an even greater phenomenon after A.P. Cockburn died in 1905 and ownership of his Muskoka Navigation Company passed to Hugh and John MacLean. Their Canada-wide media juggernaut was a printing and publishing empire of many newspapers and dozens of magazines, one of which, Maclean’s Magazine (their name stylized), Canadians still read today. The brothers had the means to promote easy travel into Muskoka just when it coincided with prosperous and prominent people hungering for an ideal vacation early in the 20th century. The outpouring of their many print publications, especially the magazines, continuously promoted four key assets of the brothers and Muskoka: their commodious steamship line, billed as “North America’s largest inland waterway fleet;” ready access to Muskoka aboard the comfortable coaches of the Grand Trunk Railway; the Royal Muskoka, by far Canada’s most prestigious summer hotel (jointly owned by Grand
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Photograph: Mason Family & Muskoka Discovery Centre
Muskoka’s Cottage Sanatorium set a high standard in every respect for people coming for a particular version of the Muskoka cure, at a fearful time when some district resorts advertised “No Consumptives,” as victims of consumption whose lungs were wracked by tuberculosis were called. The curative benefits of the district’s clean fresh air made Muskoka home of Canada’s first TB treatment centre, with more added at Gravenhurst between 1902 and 1923.
In September 1864, after four years of making their annual fresh air pilgrimage to Lake Joseph for what they called “the Muskoka cure,” young Torontonians created The Muskoka Club to formalize what Indigenous Peoples had been doing in Muskoka since time immemorial on Beausoleil Island. Trunk and Muskoka Steamships); and the celebrated “Muskoka cure” vacation. The brothers’ publishing conglomerate unabashedly fixed and projected Muskoka’s image this way, galvanizing awareness of healthy holidaying. The Muskoka mystique is an expression of many distinct features which combined hold a unique drawing power. Being able to “take the Muskoka cure” is one of those features, which has and continues to draw travellers to the region.
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Whats Happened
The “Bay and Beyond” project in Gravenhurst, beginning this year and extending until 2026, has caused many events that usually operate from Muskoka Wharf to change plans or cancel altogether this year. A massive infrastructure project in Gravenhurst is expected to cause traffic headaches this summer. The District of Muskoka, who are in charge of the project, has dubbed the work “Bay and Beyond” and it will affect a two km stretch of road from Steamship Bay Road to Gull Lake Park. Work is expected to begin in May and last until 2026 as part of the three-phase project. The primary driver of the project is to replace the water and wastewater pipes in the affected area. Some of the pipes date back as far as 1944. In addition to new underground pipes, the project will also incorporate roadway improvements and increased opportunities for active transportation. The first phase of the project includes extensive work in the area around Muskoka Wharf. That area is typically home to a number of events and festivals throughout the year, which have been either cancelled or relocated for 2023. The Gravenhurst Farmers Market, which is typically one of the busiest farmers markets in the region and runs on Wednesdays, is being relocated between June and October to Gull Lake Rotary Park.
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ones will also join them. The Tall Pines Music Festival, which typically takes place at Muskoka Wharf Park, will be joining the Farmers Market at Gull Lake Park this summer. The Festival will run between July 18 and 20 and feature headliners City and Color, July Talk, Dan Mangan and JJ Wilde. The festival will make the most of its relocation by adding free programming at the Barge located in Gull Park on the Thursday of that weekend. Another major tourist draw for the Muskoka Wharf area is the Canadian Antique and Classic Boat Society (ACBS) Show, which typically runs in July. This year the ACBS has decided to cancel the show. “Our show is the largest vintage and classic boat show in Canada and our team determined that if circumstances did not allow us to host a first class show we would cancel,” said ACBS chair Mike Gridley.
Local healthcare debate continues The highly contentious issue of Muskoka’s future healthcare structure continues to spark debate across the region. Earlier this year Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) announced changes to the service delivery levels to go along with the construction of two new hospitals: one at the current site of the existing Huntsville Hospital and a second at a new location on Pine Street in Bracebridge. The announcement was heavily criticized during a number of public meetings held throughout the region. Under the original plan both hospitals would retain intensive care units (ICUs) and surgical centres but Bracebridge would only have 14 inpatient beds while Huntsville would have 139. In response to the outcry, MAHC said they would reconsider the plan and in April 2024 they presented an updated version.
Photograph: Matt Driscoll
Photograph: The District of Muskoka
are putting a positive spin on Major construction work to cause theOrganizers move, calling it “Market in the Park.” Organizers say most of their regular vendors delays in Gravenhurst will be at the new location and some new
In response to significant outcry from the community upon presentation of an initial plan for hospitals in Bracebridge and Huntsville, Muskoka Algonquin Health Care continues to speak with physicians and residents to revise the plans.
Bracebridge Father's Day Car Show set to return Just when it seemed the Father’s Day Car Show was headed for the scrap yard, the Rotary Club of Bracebridge has her rebuilt and back on the road. The antique car show had previously been hosted by the Bracebridge BIA on Manitoba Street but the show was permanently cancelled in 2023, citing a lack of volunteers and increasing costs. The Rotary Club recently decided to breathe new life into the show and host it at the Rotary Centre for Youth and the surrounding parking lots on June 16, 2024 from 8 am to 4 pm. “The car show offers something for almost all ages; the young seem to marvel at the older cars and how much different they are from today’s transportation and the older folks have a chance to see cars from years past,” says Darcy Hammond, who helped spearhead efforts to revive the show for the Rotary Club. “It’s also a chance for those who put in so much effort into collecting and restoring these vehicles to get a venue to show off.” The car show will be held at 131 Wellington Street and will incorporate the parking lots for Georgian College and the Dewey Institute, as well as the Rotary Centre for Youth. “We’re hoping to create a bit of a walking tour of the vehicles,” says Hammond. “This is our first effort at organizing one of these,
so the site was chosen for its central location in town. There’s no need to close roads and create traffic challenges but we’ll still have excellent visibility for those driving through town.” No spectator parking will be allowed on site but a free shuttle will be available from 505 Highway 118 West (Bracebridge ReStore parking lot). The shuttle will run every 20 minutes. Prizes will be awarded to fan favourites. “Any opportunity to bring people together outdoors to walk about and be social is extremely important both for community and personal well-being,” says Hammond. “The club is always trying to offer events for the public to come and join in, whether it’s the musical, selling Christmas trees, Canada Day or any of the other events we host. We also want to thank everyone who takes part, whether it’s registering their vehicle or simply coming out and enjoying the show.”
Huntsville Festival of the Arts announces summer season Whether it's comedy you crave, familiar favourites or some of Canada's most legendary performers, the Huntsville
Photograph: Jim Cuddy
Under the latest proposal, Bracebridge would have 36 acute care beds including four ICUs. Obstetrics have now been reinstated at the Bracebridge Hospital, having been removed under the original plan. An organization called the Save South Muskoka Hospital committee (which was formed shortly after the announcement of the original plan) said the revised version does not go far enough. The group is advocating for acute and equal hospitals. MAHC said they will continue to speak with physicians and residents to review the new plans.
Legendary favourite Jim Cuddy returns to Huntsville as part of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts summer lineup. Other concerts feature Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, CHOIR!CHOIR!CHOIR! and Garret T. Willie.
Festival of the Arts (HfA) has something for every taste. In fact, the theme of this year's summer concert series is “we've got you covered.” For the past 31 years the HfA has presented a full summer season of concerts and events and this year they promise to have something for everyone. Returning favourites include the legendary Jim Cuddy and Celtic sweethearts Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy. Both Cuddy and MacMaster are multiple Juno Award winners and members of the Order of Canada. And, after two sold-out shows last summer, CHOIR!CHOIR!CHOIR! returns for back-to-back nights of giant sing-a-longs. Expect top notch takes on your favourite artist with tributes to Billy Joel, Elton John, Led Zeppelin and more. Programming will also continue to venture into alternative venues. Garret T. Willie, blues virtuoso, graces the stage at Etwell Concert Series – an outdoor covered venue in the lush forests near Huntsville. Hillside Farm will once again host MORE BARN: The Music of Neil Young, spearheaded by Tobin Spring. Other local artists featured this season include an intimate candlelit solo performance by piano virtuoso Kyung-A Lee at the Algonquin Theatre and Living on Muskoka Time with musician Sean Cotton. Cotton presents a multimedia concert full of songs and stories inspired by Muskoka and the people who live here. Other local artists to be featured this year include several musicians playing in the popular Music at Noon Series running July 15 to 19. Comedy fans won’t want to miss Girls Nite Out, featuring an all-female comedy night with Elvira Kurt and friends. Fridays of the long weekends will feature Yuk Yuk’s On Tour at Canvas Brewery.
New amphitheatre seating being installed at Gull Lake Park Guests to Gull Lake Park in Gravenhurst can expect a newly re-invigorated park with tiered granite stadium seating when summer arrives.
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Photograph: The Kee to Bala
The summer lineup of concerts at the historic Kee to Bala features the Sheepdogs, Smashing Pumpkins, Sean Paul and the Glorious Sons.
Kee to Bala reveals 2024 summer lineup From Louis Armstrong to Drake, the Kee to Bala has delivered top notch entertainers to Muskoka for more than 80 years. This summer will be no exception as the Kee recently announced a summer lineup headed by Smashing Pumpkins, Sean Paul and the Glorious Sons. May 18 – Big Wreck May 31 – Josh Ross June 28 and 29 – The Sheepdogs July 5 and 6 – The Reklaws July 12 – April Wine July 13 – Tim Hicks July 18 – The Beaches July 19 and 20 – Metric July 26 – The Trews July 27 – 54-40 July 28 – Loud Luxury July 31 – The Smashing Pumpkins Aug. 2 and 3 – James Barker Band Aug. 9 and 10 – David Wilcox Aug. 11 – James Kennedy
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Aug. 16 and 17 – The Glorious Sons Aug. 22 – Kim Mitchell Aug. 23 and 24 – Dallas Smith Aug. 27 – Sean Paul Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 – Sam Roberts Band
Tilley book launch a smashing success The life of a Canadian business icon has been documented in a new book and, by all accounts, the grand reveal of that biography was a great success. “I was thrilled with the two book launches
Feature by Matt Driscoll
Photograph: Nancy Beal
The project is being funded by the Rotary Club of Gravenhurst, as part of their Rotary Rocks the Barge initiative to celebrate their 85th anniversary. Seating will be along the slope facing the lake, adjacent to the barge. People can use the seating to watch performances on the barge and other activities at the waterfront. Construction has now begun and is expected to be completed by June.
for The Endurable Alex Tilley,” says Nancy Beal, author of the 330-page book, which was released in April. As the founder of Tilley Endurables, Alex Tilley became a Canadian icon when his self-proclaimed “persnicketiness” for quality earned him a devout following. A quirky and complex personality, Tilley provided topquality travel and outdoor clothing. He became internationally famous for the crown of his creations: a Canadian-made cotton hat sold with an owner’s manual, insurance policy and lifetime guarantee. The first book launch was held in Toronto at the historic Arts & Letters Club. In attendance were friends and family as well as some employees from Tilley Endurables. “The second launch, held at the Gravenhurst Opera House, was filled to the brim with our friends and community supporters,” says Beal. “Muskoka author Cheryl Cooper emceed this lively event, Rotary sold Tilley Hats and members of the audience told their personal stories of their own experiences with Alex and their Tilley items. It culminated in a standing ovation for Alex. My favourite reaction to the event was later recounted to me through a friend: ‘I didn’t know book launches could be so much fun’.”
The launch of the biography The Endurable Alex Tilley in April was a smashing success for author Nancy Beal, with events in Toronto and Gravenhurst.
...telling the Muskoka story
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Coffee: the flavourful start or finish to your day or meal Article by K.M. Wehrstein / Photography by Tomasz Szumski Full disclosure: I don’t drink coffee and never have, avoiding stimulants as a rule. I’m high-strung enough as it is. However, I think a certain innocence of palate can help in sampling objectivity, so rather than a disadvantage from lack of familiarity, this offers a fresh perspective. Coffee is best known, of course, as the universal mental-energy drug that arguably powers the economy of the entire Western world (except England, where it’s tea). According to one legend, it all started with a Yemeni goatherder in 850 CE who noticed his goats became energetic to the point of dancing after eating certain berries, so naturally tried them himself. The global journey from there to a coffee machine in every office is caffeine-fueled history. However, coffee’s inimitable and always recognizable deep nut-like flavour is much loved as an ingredient, too, whether in savoury marinades and sauces, desserts like tiramisu, the many iterations of mocha, or the simple cup of coffee enhanced by a wide range of other ingredients into spectacular beverages. For this issue, there’s lots of sweetness. We’ll start at Muskoka’s very first coffee manufacturer, Muskoka Roastery, founded in 2000 when Patricia Snell began at Huntsville’s 7 Main Café. “When we started out, 24 years ago, roasting in small batches for the local community, we had a vision to become the biggest and the best specialty coffee roaster in
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Canada,” shares Snell. The company soon outgrew the café and moved to an expandable location on Crescent Road in 2008. Factory and office space combined is now 17,000 square feet. Muskoka Roastery products can now be bought in more than 900 Canadian stores from coast to coast and are ordered online by people all over the world, from the USA to Italy, Germany, England, the Netherlands and even Saudi Arabia. “It has been pretty incredible,” Snell enthuses. The roastery imports its beans from 10 top-coffee-growing nations in South America, Africa and Asia, then roasts and blends them to craft the different roasts. In the case of its few flavoured coffees (two of which are featured in recipes), the beans are flavoured after roasting. “We choose subtle yet distinct all-natural flavours,” says marketing manager Jordan Neudorf. “We make them very Canadian, very unique and very us.” All the coffee farms Muskoka Roastery buys from are Rainforest Alliance-certified, which brings forward a key concept in the company’s mission: sustainability. “It has been a focus for us since day one,” explains Neudorf. “Patricia and her family have been in Muskoka a very long time.” (Since 1862, according to the website.) “The rest of us work and play here, and if you’re surrounded by it, you value it. We’d like to ensure future generations can see and enjoy Canada the way we get to.” Muskoka Roastery is the first
coffee roaster in North America to source all its beans from Rainforest-Alliance-certified farms starting in 2011. This means that not only are the beans cultivated sustainably but workers are paid fairly and live in good conditions. It’s also the first roastery in Canada to sell 100 per cent compostable coffee pods. “Last summer we began producing those in our factory,” says Neudorf. “You can put them in your green bin.” In 2017, the company went totally Bullfrog Powered, “meaning we choose 100 per cent green electricity, green natural gas and green fuel. Since 2017 we have avoided 726 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to 162 cars taken off the
Honey Lavender Latte – Chris Vanderbeek
Ingredients • 4 oz espresso or strongly brewed coffee • 6 oz milk or milk alternative • ½ oz natural honey • ½ oz lavender infused simple syrup • ½ oz vanilla simple syrup • Whipped topping (optional) • Nutmeg (optional)
Method Combine milk, honey, lavender and vanilla syrups and heat up to approximately 150° F on a stovetop on medium heat or with espresso steam wand. • Carefully pour into a 12 oz cup • Add espresso or strong coffee • Top with whipped cream and a dash of nutmeg if desired • Enjoy!
Baristah's Tips • “With simple syrup you can control how much is going in.” • Possible milk substitutes: soy, almond, oat (“most popular by far”). • Use a candy thermometer to track the temperature to 150° F – so long as it’s digital. “It has to be fast or it won’t keep up with the heating.” Baristas use metal pitchers so they can feel the temperature and avoid scalding the milk that way. • Use a milk frother if you have one.
road for one year.” In its 20th anniversary year of 2020, Muskoka Roastery became a certified B Corporation, meaning it must report its impact on employees, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment, every three years. The 2023 report can be read on its website. Finally, the roastery gives one per cent of its proceeds to environmental causes. “Our brand is very anchored in nature,” says Neudorf. “If we don’t have an environment we don’t have a brand.” But let’s get to the deliciousness aspect now, with two offerings which, in Neudorf ’s words, “take recipes traditional for coffee and puts our own twist on them. You put cream and sugar into coffee, so…” Muskoka Maple Affogato is absurdly simple with just two mandatory ingredients, though adding additional toppings, such as the fairly large drizzling of chocolate syrup I added to my sample, only adds to the sweet flavour. The maple in combination with the vanilla makes it. Combining the classic tastes of café au lait and s’mores – you know, those gooey campfire delicacies often consumed in Muskoka – is S’mores Café Au Lait. Especially delightful is the way the coffee and milk mixture gradually sweetens as the marshmallows melt into it. “I did not have ‘barista’ on my bingo card
even as soon as two years ago, but here I am, and I’m loving it,” says Chris Vanderbeek, self-described “introvert doing extrovert things” and owner of Baristah Coffee in Bracebridge. “I love being part of the community fabric, love the support that most give to each other, love meeting the quirky people. A rising tide lifts all boats.” Born in Dundas, Ontario, Vanderbeek got a foundational business education at Niagara College. From there he did a co-op placement in Muskoka and met his future wife, Ashley, then went on to work as a golf pro at the Lake Joseph Club. “I left there and did a few different jobs,” Vanderbeek recounts. “This is my first real business venture. Two Januarys ago, a friend and I were talking about what we could do as a side hustle. We looked into the coffee business. As we didn’t have skills or knowledge to start a roastery, we went into drop shipping: you have a website, people order your coffee on the website and the supplier ships to their door.” Vanderbeek and his partner then made contact with retailers in the Hiram St. Market complex, who were willing to try selling their line. “So, we got our foot in the door; people could see, feel, smell and taste our coffee.” Invited by Big River Bakery to sell out of a corner in their shop, he had two Saturdays
While butter tarts were not part of the coffee-related recipes, Janette MacNaughtan’s are a recipe she’s been tweaking for quite some time and pair deliciously with Chris Vanderbeek’s Baristah Coffee beverages.
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 61
Muskoka Maple Affogato – Jordan Neudorf
Ingredients • 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream • ¼ cup of strongly brewed Muskoka Maple coffee • Optional: Shaved chocolate, chopped nuts.
Method • Scoop ice cream into a cup. Gently pour in coffee and add any desired toppings.
S’mores Café Au Lait – Muskoka Roastery
Ingredients • Muskoka Roastery S’mores Coffee, strongly brewed • Warmed milk • Chocolate syrup • Graham crackers, ground to crumbs • Mini marshmallows
Method • Rim your mug of choice with chocolate sauce and graham crackers. Line the inside of the mug with chocolate sauce. • Fill the mug half full with Muskoka Roastery S’mores Coffee and fill the remaining half with warmed milk. • Top with mini marshmallows and use a kitchen torch (or a regular household blowtorch at its lowest setting) to toast them to your likeness. • Garnish your drink with some crushed graham crackers, and it’s ready to enjoy.
62 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
Muskoka Maple Affogato, a twist on the traditional dessert, from Muskoka Roastery’s Jordan Neudorf is a sweet, elegant and satisfyingly simple treat for coffee and dessert lovers. that were so successful that he gave his employer his two-weeks’ notice. “That was last June,” Vanderbeek recalls. “I had a great summer and now I’m here full-time Tuesday to Saturday.” Partnering with Bumble Pastry, he has opened a storefront café next to Big River on Taylor Road. At time of writing the plan was to offer coffee, pastries and other “grab and go” stuff including, perhaps, salads and wraps. Meanwhile Bumble Pastry owner Janette MacNaughtan, who is also Ashley’s longtime best friend, will be baking and cake decorating downstairs. Baristah Coffee is supplied by a roastery in Nepean who brings in beans from across the world and Vanderbeek crafts his wares by tasting, tweaking and giving the roastery instructions. “I like to taste the bean, but I also like a little of the darker flavour, just a little bit of oil,” he expains. “I don’t like an acidic coffee. The longer you roast a bean, the less acidic it becomes, and also the less caffeine it keeps. The oils are always in the bean; they come to
the surface the longer you roast.” Of course, he can’t base all offerings on his personal favourite (mocha/java blend, as it reminds him of growing up in the 90s) and must provide a range. Vernon Dark Roast is from Ethiopia, Moon River from Guatemala and Skeleton is his favoured mocha/java blend – Baristah coffees are all named after bodies of water in Muskoka. He even stocks two decaffeinated roasts. “I try to cover everything.” All week, Vanderbeek says, “I’m thinking about what the next special weekly drink will be. It takes trial and error to create; I taste it myself or share with friends. I try to keep it fun but sometimes make it a little bit elevated, like this.” He is referring to his Honey Lavender Latte. It has such a lovely, sweet, fragrant and irresistible taste that I kept sipping as we chatted, and soon got that familiar I-just-took-astimulant feeling coffee lovers all swear by. If Janette MacNaughtan’s surname seems familiar, it could be because her grandfather founded MacNaughtan’s Home Hardware in
Bracebridge. Her educational background is in illustration and education, in which she has a master’s degree. “I still do artwork, have shown work at The Annex,” she says. In fact, among her publicly viewable works are the storefront signs and illustrations for Baristah Coffee and Bumble Pastry. MacNaughtan has been baking from childhood, taught by her mother and her grandmother. “It was something I dabbled in for a while,” she shares. “I’d have friends who’d commission me to do wedding and birthday cakes. I helped run a little café in The Annex some years ago and we had this huge discussion about my friend Joan’s butter tarts and how I could tweak her recipe.” Then one year while Big River Bakery was closed for a New Year’s vacation, she provided the tarts along with
Just like at a campfire, using a kitchen torch or a regular household blowtorch (on low) to roast the marshmallows, adds the crisp yet gooey sweetness of s’mores to a café au lait.
Chocolate Espresso Biscotti – Janette MacNaughtan and Miranda T.
Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 2 tsp Baristah Hardy Espresso Blend, very finely ground (or your chosen espresso) ½ tsp salt ½ tsp baking soda 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or broken into small pieces 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup dark chocolate chips 2 Tbsp Baristah Hardy Espresso Blend, coarsely ground (or your chosen espresso)
Method • Preheat oven to 300° F. • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. • In a food processor, combine the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, salt, baking soda, and chopped chocolate. Pulse until the chocolate is ground into the flour mixture. • In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. • Mix in the eggs and vanilla. • Gradually add the flour mixture just until combined. (Don’t overdo it.) • Stir in the chocolate chips and ground espresso beans (coarse and
fine ground at the same time) into the dough. • Divide dough in half and form two logs about 14” x 2”. Place logs on prepared baking sheet at least 4” apart for the first bake. (They will puff a tiny bit and spread.) • Bake for 30-35 minutes. Logs should be firm but not hard. • Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Leave the oven on. • On a cutting board using a serrated knife, cut each loaf into ½ inch slices. (If the slices crumble, let the loaf cool a little longer.) • Place slices, standing half an inch apart, on a parchment-lined cookie sheet for the second bake. Bake for 30 minutes until the surface of the cookies is dry (the chocolate chips will be gooey). • Cool on a wire cooling rack. Can be stored in an airtight container for up to three weeks.
Baker's Tips • “I use only real vanilla, not the fake stuff.” • Why both course and finely ground coffee? “The fine-ground spreads coffee flavour through the dough, and the course gives a little crunch – texture and flavour together, almost like a chocolatecovered coffee bean.”
June 2024 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 63
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WE BUILD QUALITY Muskoka Roastery’s specialty coffee flavours, such as S’mores, are perfect to drink on their own or to be crafted in specialty beverages with a twist, like this café au lait. other baked goods. As she recalls: “Warren Dix, the owner of the bakery, said ‘Your butter tarts are the best, keep going!’” “Janette does signs, does butter tarts – she’s awesome,” Vanderbeek interjects. “And Chris keeps me in coffee and laughs,” MacNaughtan shoots back. “We’re also really lucky because we have really supportive partners” (meaning in both business and romance). “We have those people we can celebrate and an extra shoulder to grab onto when you need some support.” I haven’t tasted her butter tarts but her Chocolate Espresso Biscotti, based on a recipe from her friend Miranda T., are delightful. Hard like dense toast from the double bake, they are full of crunch and chocolate with a subtle coffee flavour, neither too sweet or too bitter. If you want them a little softer… just dip them in your latte! Why course and finely ground coffee, both? “The fine-ground spreads coffee flavour through the dough, and the course gives a little crunch – texture and flavour together, almost like a chocolate-covered coffee bean.”
64 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
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Muskoka Moments
Muskoka, a place of peace and gratitude
Of course, it’s a beautiful place to live and life here afforded more feelings of safety and space for my children and family. I suddenly found I had more time. In Toronto, it takes about an hour to get anywhere. Here, not so much. I still find myself slipping back on Toronto time where I leave for an event an hour before and find that I have 55 minutes to kill. And that extra time creates space for reflection, for different interests and pursuits and inner peace. I see it not only in myself but in my family and the community that surrounds me. Living here also reminded me of how fortunate Muskoka is to have such vibrant Photograph: Huntsville Festival of the Arts
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. That is if you keep reminding yourself about what makes you fond of that which you are missing. I grew up in Huntsville. After high school I moved away to pursue a life in the theatre. It took me on all kinds of adventures, including a life with my amazing partner, Christina, and our incredible children, Bruno, Ralph and Simone. We ended up making a home in Toronto and, even though our work and life was there, we remained connected to Muskoka. I still had family and friends to visit, and I was also able to work here from time to time. We presented plays in parks and theatres and I was most fortunate to produce Nuit Blanche North each year through the support of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts (HfA). In 2018, I was offered the role of executive director of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts and we decided to make the move to Muskoka. The time was right and the opportunity was there. It was the right move and it was living here full time that reminded me about all the things that make me fond of Muskoka.
Photograph: Lacey Creighton
Article by Dan Watson
Prior to taking on the role of executive director, Dan Watson was responsible for bringing Nuit Blanche North to the Huntsville Festival of the Arts. 66 UNIQUE MUSKOKA June 2024
arts and culture. From visual arts, to music, to media, dance and theatre, there is so much happening in Muskoka. And the community supports and takes part. Not out of a sense of obligation, but because they genuinely enjoy it and appreciate the benefits that arts and culture bring to our lives. Is it as large as Toronto’s arts and culture scene? Of course not, but for the size of our population and region, it is exceptional. And as someone who works in the arts and culture industry, I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to produce events and programs that can make an impact. In Toronto, I felt my work was making ripples in a big pool. In Muskoka, I feel it has the potential to make a big splash and create waves that carry a deeper, more meaningful impact which helps enhance the lives of those living in and visiting the region. It took my move back to Huntsville to remind me about how amazing the Muskoka region is. I still try to remind myself every day about what I love about life here, to not take all these wonderful gifts for granted. I believe that’s called gratitude and it’s what I feel about living in Muskoka. Dan Watson is the executive director of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts. He grew up in Muskoka and is a past recipient of a Huntsville Festival of the Arts scholarship. Watson attended Humber College in Toronto to study theatre and also studied in Paris. For over 12 years, Watson lived and worked in Toronto, including teaching at his alma mater. He returned to Huntsville in 2018 to take on his current role. He lives in Huntsville with his wife and three children.
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