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| Visiting the Historic Community of Germania - Rich in local history, the community of Germania is one of the early settlements in area where you can still visit the historic Germania Lutheran Church which was established in l876. (Photo By Fred Schulz) |
MUSKOKA WAS PROMOTED IN THE FIRST YEARS OF TOURISM AS AN ENCHANTED, FAIRYLAND, SPIRITUAL AND HEALTH RESTORATIVE RETREAT
IT WAS BASED ON WHAT TOURISTS WANTED - BUT NOT ON ITS ACTUAL FOLK-LORE
WHILE CRADLING A HOT CUP OF TEA, AND ENJOYING THE TWINKLING SPARKS OF A FROST-LADENED AUTUMN MORNING, FROM MY ARMCHAIR VANTAGE-POINT, IT WILL APPEAR A VERY ACTIVE, AND INTERESTING PANORAMA; OF WILDLIFE, WAVERING FLORA AND FAUNA, AND MORNING HIKERS, OUT THERE ON THE MUSKOKA MOOR. JUST BEYOND THE WINDOW PANE HERE AT BIRCH HOLLOW, IT ALL COMES TOGETHER AS ONE WOULD EXPECT OF A NATURAL WONDERLAND.
IF YOU WATCH OUT OVER THE BOG, FROM MY OFFICE WINDOW, IN THE EARLY MORNINGS, THIS TIME OF YEAR, YOU'RE BOUND TO SEE DEER GRAZING ALONG THE FAR RIDGE, AN AMBLING BEAR OR VISITING MOOSE. IN THE AFTERNOON, YOU WILL SEE AND HEAR THE RESIDENT CROWS, LIKE THE HAUNTING OF A CHURCH GRAVEYARD, LOUDLY CAWING FROM ONE TREE TOP TO ANOTHER, WHILE A BOUNTY OF BLACK SQUIRRELS, LEAP FROM BRANCH TO BRANCH, AS TINY BIRDS DART IN AND OUT OF OUR SCATTERED CLUMPS OF LILACS, BROUGHT FROM WINDERMERE, WHEN WE MOVED HERE IN THE LATE 1980'S.
IT IS A TRULY INSPIRING PLACE, TO WATCH THE MANIFESTATION OF LIGHT AND SHADOW, AS EACH DAY MATURES, SEASON TO SEASON, THROUGH SNOW AND RAIN, AUTUMN STORM, AND HARVEST CALM. THE LEAVES ON THE HARDWOODS ACROSS THE LOWLAND, ARE CHANGING FAST NOW, WITH THE COLD NIGHTS, AND MANY LEAVES HAVE ALREADY FALLEN INTO OUR YARD, AFTER THE HIGH WINDS OF A FEW NIGHTS AGO. SITTING HERE, ENJOYING THE VIEW OVER MY PIECE OF MUSKOKA, I CAN CERTAINLY UNDERSTAND WHY THE FIRST WRITERS TO TRAVEL THROUGH OUR REGION, WERE COMPELLED TO USE WORDS LIKE "FAIRYLAND," AND "ENCHANTING," TO DESCRIBE WHAT THEY WERE WITNESSING. UNFORTUNATELY, THE PIONEERS, FROM SOME OF THE SAME PORTALS, WERE SEEING MUSKOKA DIFFERENTLY; AS A HARSH, AND UNRELENTING TASK-MASTER, THAT PROVIDED LONG, BITTERLY COLD WINTERS, AND SHORT GROWING SEASONS. THUS, THE FOLK-LORE OF OUR REGION, FROM THE PERMANENT POPULATION, WAS LESS FLOWERY, AND MORE TRUTHFUL TO THE HARDSHIPS IT CREATED.
I CAN FIND MANY HISTORIC OVERVIEW REFERENCES TO MUSKOKA, FROM THE LATE 1870'S TO 80'S, THAT DESCRIBE OUR REGION AS A HEALTH-FULL AND MIND-RESTORATIVE RETREAT, FOR THE CITY-WEARY. MOSTLY AIMED, OF COURSE, AT THOSE WITH MEANS TO FUND A LUXURY-FILLED WILDERNESS ESCAPE. A FANTASY-LADEN "ENCHANTED FOREST" AND LAKELAND, THAT ABOUNDED IN ETHEREAL OPPORTUNITIES; PAINTED MUCH AS IF A TOURIST ADVENTURER MIGHT DECIDE, INSTEAD OF WILD GAME, TO HUNT AND THEN CAPTURE FAIRIES AND LEPRECHAUNS ALONG THE LAKESHORE, AND DOWN THE NARROW, SHADED FOREST PATHS.
IT WASN'T SO MUCH THE CASE, THAT THE EARLY WRITERS WERE DOING THIS, AS AN HONEST BIT OF JOURNALISM; BECAUSE TO THE CONTRARY, THEY WERE HIRED TO DRUM-UP TOURISM BUSINESS, BY USING WHATEVER ALLURE THEY COULD, VIA THEIR EDITORIAL PERSPECTIVES. MUSKOKA'S FIRST SALESMAN, THOMAS MCMURRAY WAS A HUSTLER, THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, AND HIS SETTLER'S GUIDE-BOOK, WAS CERTAINLY MORE POSITIVE ABOUT SETTLER OPPORTUNITIES THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN; CONSIDERING THE HARDSHIPS TO BE EXPECTED, OCCUPIED ONLY A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE TEXT, WHEN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A MEATY CHAPTER OR TWO. MCMURRAY, IN THE LATE 1860'S, ESPECIALLY IN THE POEMS CONTAINED WITHIN HIS BOOK, DOES PAINT A SOMEWHAT EMBELLISHED MYSTICAL OVERVIEW OF THIS SPELL-WEAVING REGION. THIS IS PARTICULARLY TRUE OF HIS DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT FALLS, ON THE MUSKOKA RIVER. I LIKE THE POEM, BUT AT THE TIME, FOLKS WERE STARVING TO DEATH ON MUSKOKA HOMESTEADS, AND ETHEREAL STUFF DIDN'T PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE. EVEN A CAPTURED FAIRY PROBABLY COULDN'T HAVE MADE THE GROUND MORE FERTILE, OR THE GROWING SEASON LONGER. WHILE THE BOOK MAY HAVE BEEN TAKEN SERIOUSLY BY WIDE-EYED, HOPEFUL SETTLERS TO START WITH, THEY PROBABLY TOSSED IT INTO THE FIRE LATER-ON, WHEN THEY REALIZED HIS OPINIONS WERE HEAVILY BIASED, AND UNREALISTIC GENERALLY, TO MOST OF THE SETTLERS WHO ARRIVED HERE SHORT OF MONEY AND GEAR. IT WAS MORE POETIC THAN USEFUL, BUT ITS PAPER COULD START A FIRE.
THOMAS MCMURRAY WAS A PIONEER BUSINESSMAN, AND HE NOT ONLY SOLD HIS GUIDE-BOOKS FOR PROFIT, BUT HE HAD OTHER BUSINESS PROPERTIES IN BRACEBRIDGE. MCMURRAY WOULD PROFIT FROM MORE INHABITATION OF MUSKOKA, PLAIN AND SIMPLE. SO WHILE HE OFFERED SOME COUNTER-POINT, BASICALLY HE ASSUMED FOLKS WOULD JUST PREPARE ACCORDINGLY. HE JUST DIDN'T HAVE ANY REAL CONCEPT OF HOW POOR THE PIONEERS WERE, WHEN THEY OPTED, IN THEIR HOME COUNTRIES, TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CANADA'S FINE OFFER OF FREE GRANT LAND. MANY OF THESE PEOPLE WERE THE POOREST OF POOR, LIVING IN ADVERSE CONDITIONS IN THE CITIES, AND COMING TO THE VAST WILDERNESS, AS IT WAS, IN THE 1860'S AND 70'S, WAS THE RECIPE FOR DISASTER. THE SUCCESSES WERE FAR FEWER THAN THE FAILURES, WHICH FORCED HOMESTEADERS TO ABANDON THE LAND, NO MATTER HOW MAGICAL IT APPEARED TO EDITORIALISTS, AND AUTHORS OF ARTICLES FOR SPORTING ADVENTURE PUBLICATIONS, AT AROUND THE SAME TIME.
EVEN THE GRAPHICS OF MUSKOKA, CONTAINED IN PUBLICATIONS FROM THE PERIOD, INCLUDING PICTURESQUE CANADA, WITH ACCOMPANYING ARTICLES, DEPICTED THE REGION AS A TRULY INSPIRING, SPIRITUAL PLACE ON THE CONTINENT. I RESPECT THEIR OBSERVATIONS, AND I CONCUR ON MOST OF WHAT THEY OFFERED, FREQUENTLY BORROWING THESE PROMOTIONAL PIECES TODAY FOR VARIOUS PROJECTS I'M WORKING ON. BUT WHEN SOMEONE INFORMED ME THE OTHER DAY, THAT THESE OBSERVATIONS WOULD BE OF GREAT VALUE TO ME, TRYING TO COLLECT AND CONSERVE MUSKOKA'S FOLK-LORE, I HAD A (CHARLES) DICKENS OF A TIME, TRYING TO EXPLAIN THAT FOLK-LORE IS A CULTURAL QUALITY THAT CAN'T BE DRAPED OVER A REGION, FROM AFAR, OR FROM A CASUAL OBSERVATION, BY A VISITOR, AND THUSLY CONSIDERED PART OF OUR HERITAGE. THIS IS LARGELY THE PROBLEM IN MUSKOKA. WE HAVE HAD MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF EDITORIAL OVERVIEWS GRANTED US, IN BOOKS, ARTICLES, MAGAZINES, JOURNALS, LETTERS, BROCHURES, AND PHOTO CAPTIONS DATING BACK TO ITS FIRST INHABITANTS. BUT A MAJORITY ARE JUST INTERESTING, AND SOMEWHAT FLATTERING COMMENTS, THAT AS FAR AS USEFULNESS TO FOLK HISTORIANS, FALL FLAT BECAUSE OF WHY THEY WERE WRITTEN, AND BY WHO; VISITOR OR PERMANENT RESIDENT.
I LEARNED THAT MUSKOKA WAS AN ENCHANTED PLACE, ON MY FIRST VISIT BACK IN THE SUMMER OF 1965, WHEN OUR FAMILY DROVE UP FOR A WEEKEND STAY, AT A BRUCE LAKE COTTAGE. I KNEW THEN, THIS PLACE AND I WERE KINDRED SPIRITS, AND I WAS RIGHT. FROM 1966 ON, I HAVE BEEN EXPLORING AND DISCOVERING MUSKOKA, FROM JUST ABOUT EVERY VANTAGE POINT, AND FOR MOST OF THOSE EARLY FORAYS, I HADN'T READ ANYTHING ABOUT THE DISTRICT TO CORRUPT MY APPRECIATION OF ITS UNOBSTRUCTED MYSTERIES. WHEN I COMMENCED MY APPRENTICESHIP, EAGER TO EARN MY STRIPES AS A REGIONAL HISTORIAN, I QUICKLY BEGAN TO SEE HOW OUTSIDE OPINIONS AND CRITIQUES OF MUSKOKA, WERE BEING TAKEN AS GOSPEL.....AND UNWISELY, AND INDISCRIMINATELY INCORPORATED INTO OUR CULTURAL IDENTITY. I COULD SEE HOW CORRUPTING THIS WAS, BECAUSE THE PEOPLE DEFINING US, DIDN'T LIVE HERE, AND IN FACT, WERE PROFITING FROM WHAT THEY WERE WRITING ABOUT US.....IN SPORTSMEN'S PUBLICATIONS, AND ADVERTISING MATERIALS, IN PRINT, BEING CIRCULATED AROUND THE WORLD. IN OTHER WORDS, MUSKOKA'S CULTURAL HERITAGE HAS BEEN LARGELY COMPOSED BY THOSE WHO NEVER CLEARED AN ACRE OF LAND, OF ITS PINE FOREST; NEVER MOVED THOUSANDS OF BOULDERS OFF THEIR SMALL PATCH OF ARABLE LAND; DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT STARVING OR FREEZING TO DEATH, IN MID WINTER, AND NEVER HAD TO FEAR THE ISOLATION AND LONELINESS OF A MUSKOKA HOMESTEAD IN THE THROES OF A DEVASTATING WINTER.
ONE OF THE REASONS I GRAVITATE SO FREQUENTLY, TO THE BOOKS, WRITTEN BY BERT SHEA, BEYOND THE FACT HE WAS SUZANNE'S UNCLE (AND HER MOTHER GAVE ME HIS BOOKS), IS THAT HIS FAMILY STORIES ARE A GOOD MIX OF FACTUAL HISTORY AND INTIMATE FOLK-STORIES; FACT AND WHAT MAY BE A LITTLE WELL-PLACED COUNTRY FICTION, WHICH IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD WITH GATHERING HEARSAY ACCOUNTS.....THE FIBERS OF THIS WEAVE OF FOLK-LORE, AS VESTIGES OF PERSONALLY INTERPRETED HISTORY.....AS SEEN, AND TOLD BY THEMSELVES OR OTHERS. NOT QUITE SO RELIANT ON FACT TO GET THE POINT ACROSS.
IT'S A PERFECT MIX. YOU GET A PRETTY GOOD IDEA WHAT IT WAS LIKE WORKING THE FARM ECONOMY, LABOURING IN LUMBER CAMPS IN THE WINTER, LOG DRIVES IN THE SPRING, TO MAKE UP FINANCIAL SHORT-FALLS; AND ENHANCING THESE STORIES, WHEN TOLD TO LOVED ONES AND FRIENDS, WITH A LITTLE FERVOR AND MORAL HIGH GROUND; TALES LIKE PAT LOVELY AND HIS BE-WITCHING OF THE NEIGHBOR'S SWINE......AND HEALING AN INJURED BOY BY "WILL"......NOT MEDICAL INTERVENTION. BERT SHEA ISN'T THE ONLY MUSKOKA HISTORIAN TO HAVE SAVED SOME OF THESE IMPORTANT FOLK-LORE RELICS, BUT IN COMPARISON TO THE VOLUME OF EDITORIAL OVERVIEWS, FROM RELATIVE PASSERSBY, OVER THE CENTURIES, IT'S OBVIOUS WHY WE HAVE AN IDENTITY ISSUE, WHEN WE LOOK AT OUR CULTURAL PAST. WE GOT PRETTY USED-TO, HAVING EVERYONE ELSE TELLING US HOW WE WERE LIVING.....AND WHETHER OR NOT WE WERE LIVING IN COMPANY WITH FAIRIES, WITCHES OR HOBGOBLINS. APPARENTLY, IT WAS THEIR CHOICE TO CALL THE SHOTS. OUR SETTLERS WERE KIND OF PRE-OCCUPIED TRYING TO SURVIVE THE HOMESTEAD EXPERIENCE, TO PAUSE AND WRITE A BOOK. IT WORKED FOR SOME, LIKE SUSANNA MOODIE, AND CATHERINE PARR TRAILL, BUT THEY WERE ALSO MAKING INROADS IN THE PUBLISHING GAME, AT THE SAME TIME. THE SAME WITH MRS. KING, AND HER MUSKOKA STORIES, PUBLISHED FOR PROFIT. THEIR STORIES OF WILDERNESS SURVIVAL CAME AT A GOOD TIME, AND THEIR STORIES OF HARDSHIP WERE GREATLY APPRECIATED BY THE READING PUBLIC.....IN THE CITY CLIME.
THUS, IT WAS THE STORIES AND OBSERVATIONS WRITTEN DOWN IN PIONEER JOURNALS, THAT ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO CULTURAL HISTORIANS, BECAUSE THEY WERE DONE WITH OUT ANY PROSPECT OF PROFIT, EVEN FAR DOWN THE PROVERBIAL COUNTRY ROAD. AN EXAMPLE OF THIS, IS THE JOURNAL KEPT BY EARLY VISITOR, ARTIST, ADA FLORENCE KINTON, OF HUNTSVILLE. ALTHOUGH SHE DIDN'T TAKE UP FULL-TIME RESIDENCE IN MUSKOKA, UNTIL MUCH LATER IN LIFE, SHE OBSERVED CLOSELY, HER BROTHERS' (TWO OF THEM) HOME AND TOWN ACTIVITIES, AND MADE HUNDREDS OF IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS ABOUT DOMESTIC LIFE ESPECIALLY. SHE DOES TOUCH ON CULTURAL QUALITIES OF THE PIONEER ERA, WHEN SHE WRITES ABOUT VISITING THE HOMES OF NEIGHBORS, WHO KEPT THE WAYS OF OLD ENGLAND, IN FULL REGALIA, JAMMED NEATLY IN THEIR HUMBLE FRONTIER ABODES. KINTON, AN ACCOMPLISHED ARTIST, WAS KEEN TO REPRESENT THE NATURE OF THE DISTRICT, BEFORE THE LOGGERS CUT DOWN ALL THE STANDS OF WHITE PINE. SHE WITNESSED MANY TRANSFORMATIONS, OVER THE DECADES OF HER LIFE, IN NORTH MUSKOKA, AND WE CAN USE THOSE AS COMPARISIONS, AND EVIDENCE OF THE CHANGING CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS ENVIRONS, FROM THE 1880'S. AS SHE HAD NO INTENTION OF HAVING THE JOURNAL PUBLISHED, SHE WAS HONEST AND PARTICULARLY FORTHCOMING ABOUT HER PERSONAL THOUGHTS, BEING SO ISOLATED AND CONFINED.....AS COMPARED TO THE LIFE SHE HAD ENJOYED IN THE BUSTLE OF LONDON, (ENGLAND) AND PROXIMITY. SHE MADE VALUABLE COMPARISONS TO CITY LIFE, OVERSEAS, AND IN CANADA (TORONTO), AND IN THE HINTERLAND. SHE LOVED MUSKOKA ENOUGH, TO MAKE IT HER FINAL DESTINATION. SHE SPENT HER LAST DAYS, LOOKING OUT OVER THE LITTLE TOWN SHE HAD BEEN INTRODUCED TO, TWENTY YEARS EARLIER, AS TRULY A PIONEER COMMUNITY, BUT WITH HUGE ASPIRATIONS. WE KNOW ABOUT THE SOCIAL, CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS CLIMATE IN THOSE EARLY YEARS, BECAUSE SHE PUT THESE OBSERVATIONS INTO HER JOURNAL. AFTER SHE PASSED AWAY, EARLY IN THE NEW CENTURY, HER SISTER DECIDED THE JOURNAL WAS TOO IMPORTANT TO IGNORE.....AND AS A MEMORIAL TRIBUTE, HAD IT PUBLISHED AS "JUST ONE BLUE BONNET," WHICH ALSO DEALT WITH HER YEARS SERVING AS A MISSIONARY, WRITER AND ARTIST FOR THE SALVATION ARMY, AND THE PUBLICATION, "THE WAR CRY." IT WOULD HAVE BEEN UNFORTUNATE, TO HAVE BEEN DENIED ACCESS TO THIS IMPORTANT JOURNAL, AND THESE FEW SIGNIFICANT REFERENCES TO THE PIONEER HAMLET OF HUNTSVILLE.
UNFORTUNATELY FOR US, MUCH OF OUR CULTURAL RECKONING, AND PROOF OF EXISTENCE, WAS DISCARDED AS BEING "TOO PERSONAL," OR LACKING IN ANYTHING RELEVANT. MANY HISTORIANS, OVER THE YEARS, HAVE PAID LITTLE ATTENTION TO THESE DOCUMENTS, PREFERRING INSTEAD A RELIANCE ON NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES TO CARRY-ON OUR REGIONAL CHRONICLE. WE HAVE LOADS OF THE "BLACK AND WHITES" OF REGIONAL HISTORY, BUT NOT THE FOLK STORIES THAT PUT MEAT ON THE BONES. AND WHEN THOSE HISTORIANS TURN TOWARD THOSE GLOWING REVIEWS, WE WERE ACCUMULATING VIA THE HOME AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA, FOR PROFIT, I CAN'T HELP BUT FEEL DISCOURAGED, THAT THEY REALLY THINK THIS IS WHAT DEFINES US......AS A HAUNTED, ENCHANTED, "SPECIAL" PLACE ON EARTH. IT DOESN'T MEAN TO SUGGEST, OVERVIEWS DON'T HAVE THEIR PLACE. WE HAVE HAD AUTHORS LIKE WILSON MACDONALD, CHARLES G.D. ROBERTS, BLISS CARMEN, MARSHALL SAUNDERS, GILBERT PARKER, LUCY MAUDE MONTGOMERY, ALGERNON BLACKWOOD AND MANY OTHERS, WRITE ABOUT, OR BE INSPIRED BY THE MUSKOKA HINTERLAND. I AM COMPELLED TO READ AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, TO FIND OUT WHAT IT WAS ABOUT THIS REGION, THAT INSPIRED THEM TO DO SO. WHY MUSKOKA? FOR LUCY MAUDE MONTGOMERY, MUSKOKA BECAME A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR HER BOOK, "THE BLUE CASTLE," IN PART BASED ON HER STAY IN THE HAMLET OF BALA; AND FOR ALGERNON BLACKWOOD, IT WAS THE BACKGROUND SPARK FOR HIS SHORT STORY, "THE HAUNTED ISLAND," DURING HIS RETREAT ON LAKE ROSSEAU'S BOHEMIA ISLAND. AS FOR MARSHALL SAUNDERS, HER INSPIRATION, IF MEMORY SERVES, WAS THE LAKE OF BAYS AREA, FOR HER BOOK, "BONNIE PRINCE FRETTLER." CARMEN, ROBERTS, MCDONALD, PARKER, FOUND SOURCES OF INSPIRATION WHILE AT A RETREAT ON LAKE ROSSEAU'S TOBIN'S ISLAND, KNOWN AS THE MUSKOKA ASSEMBLY. FIRST NATIONS POETESS, PAULINE JOHNSON WAS ALSO WRITING ABOUT THE GOOD GRACES OF MUSKOKA AND ROSSEAU; AND ALL THESE DELIGHTFUL AND PLEASING INSIGHTS THAT SEEM TO FORM A SEPARATE COURSE OF STUDY, DEALING WITH HOW MUSKOKA WAS INTERPRETTED AND REPRESENTED, BY THOSE WHO RESIDED HERE AS TEMPORARY RESIDENTS......TOURISTS.
THERE IS A PLACE, WITHOUT QUESTION, FOR THESE INSIDE-OUTSIDE OBSERVATIONS.....JUST NOT RECKLESSLY ATTACHED, TO THE CHRONICLE OF WHAT PERMANENT RESIDENTS WERE OBSERVING WITHIN, DURING THE ENDLESS STRUGGLE TO INHABIT A REGION THAT SEEMED, AT MOST TIMES, TO BE TOO INHOSPITABLE TO ACCOMMODATE ANYTHING MORE THAN SEASONAL TOURISTS AND SPORTSMEN. AGRICULTURE WAS A STRUGGLE FROM THE BEGINNING. THIS, DESPITE WHAT PROVINCIAL AND FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL AUTHORITIES BELIEVED. WHAT HAD A GREAT POTENTIAL, IN THEIR LIMITED SURVEYS, AND GATHERED STATISTICS, WAS NOT THE RESULT OF ANYTHING MORE THAN A CURSORY EXAMINATION OF THE CONDITIONS. THESE AGRICULTURAL EXPERTS DIDN'T SPEND TIME LIVING IN ONE OF THOSE DRAFTY LOG CABINS, HOPING AGAINST HOPE, THERE WOULD BE AN EARLY SPRING, AS PROVISIONS HAD NEARLY BEEN EXHAUSTED, FROM THE MODEST HARVEST DURING THE PREVIOUS FALL. TO TURN MUSKOKA INTO A PROFITABLE FARMING REGION, WASN'T IN THE CARDS. IT NEVER HAPPENED THE WAY IT WAS PLANNED. BUT THE HOMESTEADERS DID PREVAIL EVENTUALLY......AND THERE IS A HELL OF A STORY, HOW THIS CAME ABOUT. I'M SORRY TO SAY, MUCH OF IT HAS GONE MISSING, AND OTHERWISE BEEN NEGLECTED, CREATING A LOSS FOR ALL OF US WHO CALL OURSELVES LOCAL.....AS EITHER PERMANENT RESIDENTS, OR SECOND HOME (COTTAGE) OWNERS......WHO REALLY DO WANT TO KNOW WHAT THIS CHARMING PLACE IS ALL ABOUT.
IN TOMORROW'S BLOG, I'D LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOU TO SOME OF THE FOLK STORIES CONTAINED IN THE PREVIOUSLY QUOTED DOCUMENT, FROM THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, REGARDING THE GERMAN FOLK-LORE OF THE WATERLOO AREA OF THE PROVINCE. ALTHOUGH WE DIDN'T HAVE A HUGE GERMAN COMMUNITY OF SETTLERS IN MUSKOKA, WE HAD ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY BORROWING SOME OF THESE STORIES......AS THERE WERE MANY CROSS-OVERS, EG. INTER-MARRIAGES, BETWEEN THE CULTURAL GROUPS, OF THOSE EARLY HOMESTEADERS, TRYING TO FORGE COMMUNITIES, TO HELP, IN NUMBERS, TO CARVE OUT HAMLETS FROM THE PINE FORESTS. THERE ARE MANY COMMON SUPERSTITIONS, AND BELIEFS IN PARANORMAL ENTITIES, INCLUDING WITCHES, AND BE-WITCHING, WHICH I ONCE AGAIN COMPARE TO THE STORY OF PAT LOVELY, IN THE HAMLET OF UFFORD, WHICH YOU CAN ARCHIVE BACK, TO YESTERDAY, IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT BEFORE. WHILE THE FOLK STORY PUBLISHED IN THE 1940'S RESEARCH, CONTAINED IN THE MUSEUM'S CULTURAL HERITAGE SERIES, IS GERMANIC IN BACKGROUND, IT WOULD HAVE HAD ITS FUNDAMENTAL PARALLEL HERE IN THE MUSKOKA MELTING-POT, AS WELL, IN THOSE YEARS OF MUTUALLY SUFFERED ISOLATION AND HARDSHIP. YOU'LL APPRECIATE THIS, WHEN WE LOOK AT SOME OF THE SUPERSTITIONS THAT WERE SHARED BY THE POPULATION; AND ADAPTED AND REVISED BETWEEN CULTURES, IN THOSE FORMATIVE YEARS, ESTABLISHING CIVILIZATION IN THE WILD WOODS OF THIS "ENCHANTED" PART OF THE WORLD.
THANKS FOR JOINING ME TODAY, AND I HOPE YOU WILL CONTINUE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS CULTURAL JOURNEY, IN CELEBRATION OF OUR HOME REGION. IT MAY NOT BE REMARKABLE TO THOSE WHO HAVE LIVED HERE FOR A LIFETIME.....BUT IT MIGHT BE A LITTLE-BIT MORE PROVOCATIVE FOR THOSE WHO ARE NEW TO THE AREA.......WHO ARE GENUINELY INTERESTED IN LEARNING A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT WHAT MUSKOKA POSSESSES, AS ITS TRUE OPENING CHAPTER.....OF A REALLY INTERESTING CHRONICLE, THAT WE CONTINUE TO ADD TO, DAY BY DAY. MY DETERMINATION HOWEVER, IS THAT TODAY'S HISTORICAL ACCOUNTING, IS APPLIED TO A STURDY FOUNDATION OF UNDERSTANDING. SOME TIMES I DO FEEL, THERE ARE TIMBERS MISSING, AND TRUTHS DENIED, THAT ARE THE RESULT OF PAST HISTORIAN'S INDIFFERENCE AND NEGLECT......TO ANYTHING THAT WASN'T NEWSPAPER-WORTHY, HARD FACT, AND FIRST PERSON ACCOUNTS. THEY SAW A SKELETON WITH CLOTHES ON......WHERE I SEE A SKELETON LOOKING FOR ITS HEART AND SOUL. MAYBE I'M BEING TOO HARSH ON MY HISTORICAL PREDECESSORS. I MEAN THEM NO DISRESPECT. THEY DID WHAT THEY THOUGHT WAS REQUIRED. I JUST SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY. I'LL TAKE YOUR CRITIQUES, "FOR OR AGAINST." FEEL FREE TO DROP ME A LINE.
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