A Love For Connecticut, A Love For Muskoka

AUTHOR ODEL SHEPARD LOVED HIS CONNECTICUT - AND FEARED CHANGES TO THE LANDSCAPE

I'M NOT SURE WE REALLY APPRECIATE THE CHANGES MUSKOKA IS FACING

     " EVERY BIBLIOPHILE NEEDS A QUIXOTIC SEARCH IN LIFE, AND I GOT MINE ONE DAY AT WHITLOCK FARMS, A BOOK SELLER NEAR MY HOME IN CENTRAL CONNECTICUT. EVERETT AND GILBERT WHITLOCK, LOCAL LEGENDS, HAVE PLIED THEIR TRADE FOR THE PAST FORTY YEARS OUT OF TWO BARNS IN WHAT WAS FARM COUNTRY. STILL RELATIVELY RURAL, THE LAND HEREABOUTS HAS BEEN PRESERVED AS OPEN SPACE THROUGH THE GRACES OF CONSERVATION AND THE FACT MUCH OF IT HAS REMAINED IN THE OWNERSHIP OF THE SAME FAMILIES FOR GENERATIONS."
     The passage above was written by writer, Alan Bisbort, in the February 1999 issue, of the magazine, "Biblio," in an article entitled "The Last Connecticut Yankee's Books Tell All." Biblio was one of my favorite publications, catering to the persnickety bibliophiles out there, and Bisbort's article fascinated me so much, that I've kept it in my reference library from the first day it arrived here at Birch Hollow. What fascinates me, in particular, is the work of American author, Odell Shepard, and his son Willard, who co-authored books, such as "Holdfast Gaines." In particular, I enjoyed the examination by Mr. Brisbort, of Odell Shepard's love for his region of the United States. The passions of Shepard mirror my own life-long commitment to representing the heritage of Muskoka. I would have loved to meet the author and his son, and I'd like to shake the hand of Alan Brisbort, for conserving this important piece of literary biography.
     Under the heading "Boulders and Blue Air," Bisbort writes, "As Odell Shepard, author of 'Connecticut: Past and Present,' put it in 1939, 'I lost, awhile, the fear that my Connecticut may be dragged down by cruel claws. I let the heathen rage. What can they do to boulders and blue air? What force have they against a rock and a dream?" As the writer notes, about the elder Shepard, "Indeed, like a dream, Connecticut is still mostly a state of mind, and Odell Shepard was as close as anyone to having been its dream chaser."
     The author once claimed he was "in love with every tree and barn and old stone wall," in the state, adds Bisbort. The feature writer notes that, in the back of his book on Connecticut, Shepard penned, "I have a dream which, if it has any fault, is too severly practical - a dream about Connecticut in years to be. In every township there shall be a poet, appointed by the Governor. The duty of these poets, first and foremost, shall be to dynamite the filling stations within their several territories; then they shall begin to burn down all the bill-boards." Shepard went on to become lieutenant governor of Connecticut, and a co-founder of the "Thoreau Society of America," as well as an editor of Thoreau's journals.
     At Whitlock Farm, Mr. Bisbort found a large collection of Odell Shepard's books and associate copies, that had been sold to the book business by the author's family. "Perhaps they knew something of my happy accident of time: I arrived just after Odell's great-grandchildren had unloaded his prodigious book collection at Whitlock's. These books would be unloaded, in turn, in smaller increments over the next several months onto the sagging shelves of my office library."
     It's interesting to note, in the article by Alan Bisbort, that Shepard was not only a good friend but biographer, of Canadian poet, Bliss Carmen, entitled "Bliss Carmen; A Study Of His Poetry," published in 1923. "In his day and nation, Carmen was as big as Robert Frost. He was, in fact, Canada's poet laureate." Bliss Carmen was one of the participating poets at the writer's retreat, at Muskoka Assembly, in the 1920's and 30's, on Tobin's Island, Lake Rosseau, with well known authors such as Charles G.D. Roberts, Wilson MacDonald, Sir Gilbert Parker and Marshall Saunders.
     Shepard once said of his life-long writing interest, that it had been spent pursuing "the history of solitude," and he may have felt closer to David Thoreau, who he believed had known so much about this precious solitude in the alluring hinterland.
     Shepard wrote books you may have read, including, "The Harvest of A Quiet Eye," "The Lore of the Unicorn," and "Jenkin's Ear."
     In fact, I have felt this way about Muskoka since I arrived here in the winter of 1966, from the hustle, bustle and urban sprawl of Southern Ontario. When I lived in Toronto, while attending university, I arrived home to Muskoka every Friday afternoon, enthralled to be away from the city......which then, as today, I felt was true freedom. Even though my family helped expand the city, as building contractors, back in the Depression years, I have never been able to reside in Toronto for more than a few weeks at a stretch, before I start feeling the call of the wild. I am at home here, and in my neighborhood, I might see a fawn at daybreak, amidst the fern cover, or find a lone wolf ambling along the forest path before full sunrise. I like seeing the deer out in the Bog, across the lane, and the woodpeckers are a treat for the eyes, at mid-day, when everything is so colorful and dynamic. I love to hear the trickling of the myriad tiny creeks that snake through the bogland, and each squirrel and bird flitting about the evergreens, makes this place enchanted and a compelling oasis to come and write, as I do frequently these days. Even when I come home from a long drive, I can't wait to wander these little pathways to nowhere in particular, because of the pleasant solitude I find, only a few feet from the full vigor of an urban neighborhood.
    I have a blogsite I call "Muskoka as Walden," my own clear demonstration, of enduring respect for Thoreau, and this amazing embrace of nature; and for me it is in this charming ballywick of Gravenhurst, Ontario, in South Muskoka. Whenever I feel the need to escape, for even a temporary sojourn, the Bog welcomes me to its interior. I don't have a cabin in there, like the one Thoreau had on Walden Pond, but there are a couple of fallen logs that make a perfect place to lodge temporarily, to watch the natural world carry on its way.
     I do worry alot these days, as Shepard was concerned about the changing topography of Connecticut, about the way progress will intrude upon our hinterland. One might expect a surge of development interests in the next ten years, as more city influences spill over from the present urban boundaries.......stressing down with bulldozer blades, upon the open, wild areas of our district. It is hard to know just how dramatic those changes will be, and if we can influence progress, to meet our interests, and our passion to maintain the lakeland character that has been so important to the development and maintenance of the tourism industry......of which we dearly depend, and would suffer greatly if it was to falter.
    I do not believe the tourist-kind visit our region to joyfully shop, specifically at convenience-store strip malls, and box stores, when they have ample shopping opportunities in the urban areas of our province, and in the United States. While the local population benefit from some of these shopping opportunities, many sightseers wonder how conjested it might soon become, when urban developers regain their appetite for exploitation. I fear that more superfluous commercial sprawl will destroy the picturesque qualities of our region, while offering very little in return for the sacrifice of open space. Development and progress are good for the local economy, but the balance is precarious, and we should all know this ahead of welcoming new plans for subdivisions and commercial nodes, suitable for urban environs, but not the more rural lakeland setting. In the past, we have accepted development without much concern about the negative impacts this kind of progress can inspire.....and in fact, herald in the future. While developers have become very savvy about appealing to the advancement of the "job market," which they tout as reason enough for town councils to support expansion, we have found that many of these claims are shallow, to the point of being a mirage, and in large part, just another unsubstantiated claim.
     As a reporter, covering the municipal beat, I used to hear a wide variety of these claims of great future prosperity, and for most of the slick presentations, it was a case of "we will save you, if you sign on to our project." I'd always think to myself, while twiddling my pencil, about the moral story of "Jack and the Beanstalk," and those "magic beans," that were going to bring much prosperity. It usually boiled down to a sale's pitch and not much more. Accepting the developments meant, however, the sacrifice of forests, wetlands, and farm pastures. Well, you have to sacrifice something right? Even I accept that development is going to happen, and of this, there is no doubt, or law big enough to stop it. Our success in the future, will be to achieve a balance, that is achieved by sensible proportion and good planning. And the appreciation, that like the Connecticut that Odell Shepard knew and loved, Muskoka must has its areas of environmental protection, and stewardship.
     It has become somewhat of an urban legend, in the arts community, that in later life, Canadian Group of Seven Artist, A.J. Casson, once said, he could no longer find anything of interest to paint in Muskoka, as all the old interesting buildings had been torn down, and rebuilt without the character of the pioneer farmsteads. He may not have been impressed by the urban scenes either, but this is all hearsay. If he did make these claims, I would agree with him whole heartedly, and I can remember this landscape carnage, as the old landmark houses, storefronts, barns and boathouses were torn down to make room for modern architecture......which is fine by the way. But I know what the artist was saying.....if he said this in the first place.
     I also dream of a sensibly, environmentally-respectful development of Muskoka, for many years to come. It has been my writer's paradise for long and long, and I hope others feel the same as residents and visitors......that this solitude is precious, inspiring, and restorative, and of this, I'm so glad my parents introduced me to Muskoka in the first place. The only way I will leave this district, is kicking and screaming. Otherwise, they will be sprinkling me here.
     Thank you so much for visiting today's blog. Please join me another day.
     Our video is ready for publication on tomorrow's blog, which we hope will be a fitting tribute to the Town of Gravenhurst's 150th anniversary, of receiving its name, to adorn the post office of 1862. You will be able to access the music video on this site, on Wednesday evening, beginning at 8:30 p.m. The credit for the film goes to my son, Robert, and the music was provided by the group "City of Tiny Lights," a homegrown band, which includes both son Andrew and Robert. I'm pleased with the finished product, but the folks I'm trying to please, are the ones who visit this blog......hope you will like it.