The Fabulous Knockouts and the Great Gull Lake Dog Rescue

WOW, BOW, WOW -  GEEZ, WENT TO A BARGE CONCERT AND A DOG RESCUE BROKE OUT!

FABULOUS KNOCKOUTS GAVE US A "FABULOUS SHOW" - TWO YEARS IN  A ROW

     WHEN I WAS IN THE NEWS BUSINESS, THERE WERE TWO SUBJECTS THAT SOLD PAPERS BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE. KID PHOTOGRAPHS AND CUTE PET FLICKS. THERE WERE WORRIED KIDS ON THE BEACH TONIGHT, AND A VERY TIRED DOG, NEAR DROWNING, IN GULL LAKE.

     SO THE FACT THERE WAS A LARGE CROWD OUT TO SEE THE SUNDAY NIGHT, "MUSIC ON THE BARGE," CONCERT, AND ENJOYING THE FIRST HALF, THE WHOLE NIGHT GOT KIND OF WARM AND FUZZY, EVEN AS THE ARCTIC WINDS HOWLED ACROSS GULL LAKE. A LARGE AND PENSIVE CROWD GOT TO SEE A RESCUE OF A POOR PUPPY, AND IF I'D BEEN A REPORTER FOR THE LOCAL PRESS……I CAN GUARANTEE THAT IMAGE OF DOG AND RESCUER, WOULD HAVE BEEN THE COVER OF THIS WEEK'S EDITION. THE PAPERS WOULD BE FLYING OFF THE NEWSTAND. WE ALL LIKE GOOD NEWS STORIES.

     A frantic, confused canine, near where we were sitting, hit the water on the fly, (and I mean this), and after one return trip to shore, he took a wild trot down the newly exposed beachfront (lowest water I've seen in this lake), came right back, and repeated the leap into the brine all over again. This time the poor pup went quite a distance out in the lake, and actually doggie paddled around The Barge, while the Fabulous Knockouts were mid-song, and appeared for a few moments, as if he was heading toward the kids on the beach. Then he changed his mind, and went quite a clip back out into the lake, and it looked as if he was getting tired, and occasionally dipping below the surface of the water. While volunteers on The Barge, were calling to the dog to come toward the platform, it seemed determined to go further out instead. There was concern that an attempted rescue might send the dog in a panic, to increase its distance from those who were trying to help…..instead of coming closer to shore. 

     Suzanne, from our onshore stake-out of the concert, (by the leaning birch, just below Bald Man's Fringe), phoned our son Robert, part of  The Barge crew, to get a message to Luke Thompson, also a Barge volunteer, and an officer with the OSPCA shelter in Bracebridge, that from our vantage point, and knowing the distance travelled by the dog, (few others had witnessed by this point), that unless a rescue was mounted, the dog might perish in front of a very large crowd. I was particularly impressed, that the lead singer / guitarist from the Fabulous Knockouts, actually stopped the concert, and began asking people he could see on the dock, adjacent to the beach, as well as boat owners in the vicinity (who could hear him), if they could please help rescue the confused creature, still unsure whether he should paddle toward shore or not. It was obvious he was terribly frightened, and physically exhausted by this point. For a few moments, there wasn't any reaction on shore, or anything we could see happening, but this didn't stop the singer from asking again and again, for help from those watching the crisis unfold.

     This performer with a heart of gold persisted asking for those nearby, to try and get the dog to shore……and as if finally responding to his plea for assistance, from The Barge to shore, a courageous woman made a dive into the water, and swam the approximate thirty to thirty five yards to grab the pup. It was a really wonderful show of compassion and kindness, both on the part of the Fabulous Knockouts singer, and band members urging the rescue, and the woman who risked getting bitten, to pull the dog ashore. There was no resumption of music, until the rescue had been successfully completed, and the dog handed over to Luke Thompson, of the OSPCA, for safe keeping. The dog seemed frightened of coming toward shore, and this was causing some concern, because it was obvious he'd reached the proverbial end of his tether. We were never introduced to the woman, who mounted the rescue, and I don't think she wanted any recognition for her brave reaction, to a near-drowning of a really scared little dog……frantically searching in the water for his owner. This seemed to be what he was looking for, and we wonder if somehow he jumped from a boat at the dock, and the occupants mistakenly left without him. I hope this is the case, versus outright abandonment.

     I just want to send this little message along to the Fabulous Knockouts, that it was a very humane and responsible thing to do, with access to a microphone, to ask the audience, close to the dog in distress, to help pull the poor creature on shore. What a class act it was, to suspend the concert, to assist communications, between shore and the rescuer. What a nice fuzzy feeling it was to see the rescuer's hand connect with the dog's collar, and with a kind touch, and some gentle urging, both were safely heading back to shore……the dog arriving on the beach to a huge cheer from the anxious audience. A tragic circumstances was averted, and when the music started up again, well, it was a much more cheerful mood let me tell you. And we settled back to be entertained, and boy oh boy, wasn't it a great night all round.

     I had the privilege of driving the bandy legged wee beastie to a waiting OSPCA rescue truck, with Officer Thompson, and what a tired, tired dog it was……as it put its head on the back of my hand to rest. We can only hope that its owner will come forward and call the Bracebridge shelter, to claim their pet. It was a feel good moment, let me tell you, and it was one of those unexpected Barge moments that you don't forget………because they remind us of good neighborliness and community. One for all…….and you know the rest.

     The Fabulous Knockouts are another band that deserves to have a night at the Gravenhurst Opera House, like a few other talented groups we've had the pleasure of watching this summer season, during the Sunday, Concert on the Barge series. They are crowd pleasers. All capable, exciting musicians, who stirred the August night, on our beautiful Muskoka lake………Gull Lake, a short walk from main street Gravenhurst, but at times, seemingly a tranquil paradise, far removed from urbanity. The audience enjoyed the Fabulous Knockouts, and here in Gravenhurst, we judge our musical entertainment harshly. When your concert series began in earnest, way back in the late 1940's, well sir, the local audience has had a chance to see some of the best musicians in the country, and as tradition serves, we support quality shows with a hillside full of spectators. Looked pretty well populated up there tonight. As a regular concert goer, and self-appointed music critic……I haven't got a single criticism, but a lot of praise for the parade of excellent entertainers, tonight and through the season so far. The price of this entertainment for us……a donation in the bucket. For this group, there should have been plenty of folding money going into the collection pots being passed through the crowd. Yup, they were "folding money good," and we hope they'll come back next year……..and that no dog will decide to marathon-swim the lake during the concert.

     I told Fred Schulz, after the show, about a famous postcard image, from Orillia, at Couchiching Park, back in the 1930's I think, of a mentalist (I'm not sure exactly what he was called for his mind-power), who for the audience, actually parted the clouds over the lake, with his "thoughts." Fred may be the reincarnation of this guy. For seven days, he's been watching the news reports, talking about the "Wizard of Oz" scenario for the coming concert Sunday. This afternoon, just north of Orillia, we ran into foul weather for a half hour, and this was at about 2:30 p.m. Concert set up was to begin at 4 p.m. As soon as we got to South Muskoka, we saw the clouds parting, and son Andrew said, "Look dad, Fred did it again….he parted those storm clouds." It's just one of those things willpower apparently can accomplish, when you want a concert to go on, as planned, so as not to disappoint thousands of loyal fans. No wonder Fred is so tired after these shows. It must be pretty mind-exhausting, to kick bad weather out of town. Hey, it's all part of the magic and tradition of the Music on the Barge concert series, at Gravenhurst's Gull Lake Rotary Park. Remember, there are two concerts left. The "Endless Summer," tribute to the California beach sound, next Sunday, at 7:30 p.m., and then in two weeks, the annual "Good Brothers," concert, one of the biggest of the summer-long schedule. Suzanne and I are going to stake out our spot a week early, and hammer our lawnchairs into the rich Muskoka earth, to guarantee the best view in the park. Actually, there are thousands of good vantage points to watch the festivities, and that's what folks love about Gull Lake Park. Isn't it a gem? Gravenhurst citizens should be proud of this urban oasis, and all the good stuff that foes on here all year……including the annual Gravenhurst Winter Carnival in February.  We just don't sit out in the lawn chairs for that one. But see you there anyway.

     Thanks again to Fred Schulz for bringing in a fabulous group of performers……thanks to the stalwart and kind citizen who rescued the dog, and special thanks to the Fabulous Knockouts for directing traffic for the rescue, and giving us a night to remember in the hot and cold summer of 2012.

     Thanks for visiting today's blog. Please visit again, soon.

MUSKOKA IS STILL TOPS ON THE LOCAL COLLECTING MARKET

YOU CAN CLICK ON THE MUSIC VIDEO, ABOVE, TO VIEW THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY CLIP, PROFILING THE MODERNIST SPIN, ON THE AUGUST 1862 NAMING OF THE TOWN OF GRAVENHURST, AFTER THE TITLE OF A BOOK WRITTEN BY BRITISH AUTHOR, WILLIAM HENRY SMITH.


MUSKOKA IS STILL TOPS ON THE LOCAL COLLECTING MARKET

THE PRICES? A LITTLE CRAZY BUT THINGS ARE SELLING

     IN THE LATE 1990'S, WE BEGAN SELLING MUSKOKA RELATED COLLECTIBLES, ANTIQUES AND HISTORIC PAPER / DOCUMENTS, AND FOLK ART WITH A REGIONAL THEME. ONE OF OUR BIGGEST SELLERS, IN THOSE DAYS, WAS NAVIGATION COMPANY CRESTED HOTEL-WARE. WE HAD LOTS OF DISHES FROM THE MAJOR RESORTS INCLUDING BIGWIN INN. WE PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE HELD ONTO THE STUFF.....BUT WHAT ANTIQUE DEALER DOESN'T LAMENT SELLING THINGS TOO CHEAPLY FROM TIME TO TIME? TODAY HOWEVER, I FIND MYSELF INCREASINGLY AT ODDS, WITH THE WILD PRICE SWINGS FOR CERTAIN MEMORABILIA, MORESO THAN ANTIQUES THAT MAY BE ATTACHED IN PROVENANCE, TO SOME MAJOR RESORT. THESE MORE IMPORTANT PIECES, INCLUDING ACTUAL FURNITURE, TEND TO BE OF LESSER INTEREST GENERALLY, THAN IF SOME SMALL DISH OF HOTELWARE HAPPENS TO HAVE A CREST FROM A FORMER RESORT.......MAKING IT, PRESUMABLY, QUITE VALUABLE.
     WHEN I LAUGH OUT LOUD ABOUT SOME ANTIQUE DEALER, TRYING TO GET FOUR TIMES THE ACTUAL MARKET VALUE FOR A PIECE OF MUSKOKA NOSTALGIA, I KNOW IT'S TIME TO LEAVE THE SALE, THE MALL OR THE SHOP. I DON'T WANT TO OFFEND THE SELLERS, BUT SOMETIMES I DO FORCE THE ISSUE, AND ASK THEM TO DEFEND THE PRICE ON A PARTICULAR ITEM.....AND WHY IT IS ASTRONOMICALLY HIGH. "IT'S OUR PRICE, SO BUZZ OFF," IS A TYPICAL RESPONSE, IF THEY SENSE I'M BEING A SMART ASS. IN THE CASE OF MANY MUSKOKA COLLECTIBLES, HISTORIC PAPER, FOLK ART AND ANTIQUES (HAVING PROVENANCE LOCALLY), I AM MORE THAN QUALIFIED TO MAKE COMMENT. THEY JUST DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT, UNTIL THEY ASK WHO I THINK I AM.......AND THEN MORE THAN JUST A FEW GO....."OH DAMN........NICE TO MEET YOU MR. CURRIE." NO, I'M NOT SOMETHING SPECIAL. BUT I KNOW MY MUSKOKA HISTORY, WRITTEN AND OTHERWISE. AT THE VERY LEAST, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO QUALIFY WHY A PIECE IS PRICED AS IF CRUSTED WITH DIAMOND DUST. I ASK WHAT I WOULD BE VALUED AT, AS A MUSKOKA COLLECTIBLE. IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT, I COULD STAND IN YOUR COTTAGE OR BOATHOUSE, MEET YOUR GUESTS, AND MAKE HISTORICAL COMMENTS ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY. UNTIL I DIE OF BOREDOM, OF COURSE. THEN YOU WOULD HAVE A DECEASED HISTORIAN TO STUFF AND MOUNT, SITTING AT A DESK, OR AT THE PATIO TABLE OUT ON THE DECK.....LOOKING HISTORIC.
     WE SOLD HUNDREDS OF MUSKOKA HISTORIES, BOOKLETS AND DOCUMENTS BACK THEN, AND IN THE YEARS SINCE WE CLOSED OUR BRACEBRIDGE SHOP, WE CONTINUED TO MARKET LOCAL HISTORICAL ITEMS ONLINE. GADS, WE HAVE SOLD EVERYTHING FROM HISTORIC GLASS SLIDES FROM A LAKE ROSSEAU RESORT, (WITH IMAGES OF A DITCHBURN PULLING A WATER SKIER), TO ONE OF THE BENCHES FROM THE SAGAMO, CLEARLY THE MOST POPULAR OF OUR FORMER STEAMSHIP FLEET, PLYING THE MUSKOKA LAKES. WE HAVE SOLD A WAREHOUSE VOLUME OF MUSKOKA KEEPSAKES SINCE THE 1980'S, AND THOSE WHO KNOW OF OUR HANDIWORK, UNDERSTAND THIS TO BE THE TRUTH. AND WE'RE STILL SELLING MUSKOKA NOSTALGIA AND COLLECTIBLES, BUT NOT FOR A KING'S RANSOM. THE EXCEPTIONS, LIKE ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES THE WORLD OVER, DEPENDS ON RARITY AND UNIQUENESS. IF I HAVE A HANDWRITTEN PIONEER JOURNAL FOLKS, AND IT'S INSCRIBED FROM MUSKOKA, IT WILL BE THREE TIMES THE VALUE, AT LEAST, OF A SIMILAR JOURNAL / DIARY FROM ANYWHERE ELSE IN CANADA.......EXCEPT IF IT WAS WRITTEN BY A JESUIT IN THE 1600'S, AND HAPPENS TO BE IN MY POSSESSION.
     I DON'T KNOW WHETHER OR NOT THERE HAS BEEN A RESURGENCE IN INTEREST, BUT THE PRICES FOR ITEMS HAVE CERTAINLY ESCALATED INTO THE NOSEBLEED SECTION OF THE LOCAL ANTIQUE AND COLLECTIBLE INDUSTRY. I GET A KICK OUT OF SEEING THE PLETHORA OF MUSKOKA-RELATED ITEMS, AT PRICES THAT FRANKLY MAKE ME CRINGE, LAUGH, AND CRINGE AGAIN.  I HAVE APPRAISED MUSKOKA ANTIQUES AND BOOKS FOR YEARS, BUT APPARENTLY, THERE ARE SOME NEW VALUATIONS I HAVE TO MAKE MYSELF AWARE OF......AND SOME OF MY OWN PRIVATE STASH, TO RE-ASSESS, TO SEE IF WE'RE MILLIONAIRES YET. I'M JUST KIDDING. WE DON'T ADHERE TO THE PRICES SET BY ANYONE ELSE, UNLESS IT IS A SIGNIFICANT AUCTION, AND IN THE CASE OF A PARTICULAR LOCAL ARTIST, HIS OR HER WORK HAS FETCHED A MUCH HIGHER "TRADED" VALUE THAN PREVIOUS.  JUST BECAUSE SOME DEALER INFLATES A PIECE OF LOCAL MEMORABILIA, DOESN'T MEAN IT IS SETTING A TREND IN THE DISTRICT. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS KIND OF WILD SPECULATION, CAUSES PROBLEMS DOWN THE LINE, BECAUSE WE START GETTING SELLERS COMING TO US, WANTING THE BIG-BIG PRICES, THEY SAW FOR SIMILAR PIECES AT ANTIQUE SHOWS, AND IN CERTAIN SHOPS. WE TELL THEM TO GO BACK TO THE VENDOR THEY ARE REFERRING, AND SELL THEM THE ITEMS. I DON'T CARE HOW VALUABLE SOMEONE TELLS ME SOMETHING IS........BECAUSE UNTIL I HAVE PROOF AND VALIDATION, I DON'T GET INVOLVED IN RECKLESS SPECULATION. EVER. I LEARNED MY LESSON ABOUT SUPPLY AND DEMAND A LONG TIME AGO, AND THERE IS A PEAK COMING, SO BEWARE.

KEEPING PERSPECTIVE - AND KNOWING THE REGIONAL HISTORY FIRST

     As a collector / dealer, I do not hold special affection, or interest at all, for crested hotelware, regardless which of the hotels it came from. I do like to pick up Navigation Company pieces at flea markets and yards sales, because they will sell and for a substantial price. The reason of course is the publicity generated by the modern day Navigation Company and when "worldwide" recognition enters into it, prices are very much influenced.
     Generally, Suzanne and I buy and sell "made in Muskoka" pieces. Antiques, art and folk art that has local provenance......was inspired and made here, from quilts to sculptures....weather vanes, to hand crafted chairs, chests and tables. When I can find a local sampler, table-cloth made by one of the talented crafers of the past, or acquire everything from vintage home-made clothing to naive paintings, depicting rural life and times.....then I feel the effort of the long, long drives has been worth the miles travelled. Just meeting the families and owners of some of these amazing local pieces, is worth every moment and penny invested getting there.
     Consider the Winderemere Dairy cans and milk bottles, that have sold for substantial amounts, and the pop crates imprinted and used by Brown's Beverages here in Gravenhurst. We will buy them when they come available for a fair price. This year we sold six of them, that we found at a local fundraising sale, and sold them for about twenty-five dollars each. I have seen the same type of wooden boxes, from Browns, with asking prices nearly double this......and I find that borderline insanity. It's not like they're rare. It's just not so. I saw three today in my Saturday morning sale-hopping, so they're not rare, no matter what sellers tell you.    Even with crested china, so what? If the Brown's Beverage cases were created in Muskoka, or manufactured specifically by a local woodworker (who actually marked the piece as locally produced), I would think it far more worthy of being a true Muskoka collectible. Having a factory piece where they attached a logo, or crest, at a Toronto manufacturer, is just a neat collectible, but not worth the huge prices being asked around the region. If an individual walked into the shop, here in the former Muskoka Theatre building, on Gravenhurst's Muskoka Road, and asked if I would appraise a piece of crested china from Bigwin Inn (Lake of Bays), for example, I would range a valuation from $15.00 to $25.00. If they told me they paid upwards of $50.00 for a plate or cup and saucer, I'd have to say, in my professional opinion, they didn't get good value. Sorry. There is too much Bigwin hotelware around these parts, to justify the often ridiculously high prices being asked. There are the older Bigwin pieces, and many, many newer ones, from later years of the resort. Price has to reflect availability, just like real estate. Unfortunately, some buyers fall for the "they're rare" sales pitch, but there's no one, except me, to counter the claim. There's a good chance, I'm not going to be there, when you need me to offer a counter point.
     I have seen Muskoka books, that aren't even considered rare, priced "out of the park," and no one selling them, can justify the price to me. I know my Muskoka books, and have, over thirty odd years, helped complete dozens of "Muskoka Archive Collections," for those hobby historians who want one of each book written about our region. The situation is, that few of these folks, buying to sell, have been in the print business for as long as I have, and fail to recognize that rarity does very much influence the price of books in particular. As well, many of the most valuable books, that were initially printed in modest supply, have been reproduced, which has certainly changed the market demand, for those of us who sell antiquarian and collectible books. Many of the prices I've seen for Muskoka books lately, have crossed the line between....high but acceptable, to the stratasphere of "beyond justification."
     What will people pay for this stuff? That's the million dollar question. What happens, to bring this up close and personal to me, is that some of these speculators, will come to me for a valuation, but they already have it in their minds, that this will be a holy grail. I've seen a fair number of holy grails in my time, believe it or not, and I'm not going to get misty eyed, by some crested platter from the 1930's, that once held slabs of beef, or some vegetables. If they have a navigational piece, or a chunk od Ditchburn (or other Muskoka boat heritage), the prices are substantially higher overall....and part of this has to do with the immense popularity in North America of antique wooden boats. A folk art painting, or wood sculpture, representative of Muskoka, would interest me, and my valuations for a well executed painting of a local scene, or townscape, by a known artist, would be a semi-holy-grail. But a crock with the name of a local merchant inked on the side, wouldn't stir the collector-within. The crock and its imprint were not made in Muskoka, but just like today, personalized with advertising identification by some company, and sent to the business that ordered them. In my opinion, that makes a crappy Muskoka keepsake, and although I'd buy one to flip for a few bucks profit, it wouldn't be something that I'd seek out as a status item for my collection.
     I've had some truly bad experiences in the Muskoka-collectible trade, and the one hardest to forget, was the time I asked a local photographer to copy a very nice, late 1800's album, of about thirty images, mostly of the Bracebridge area. I had paid a significant amount for the album, and the idea, was to include the blow-up images, first in my newspaper column in The Muskoka Advance (Muskoka History Sketches), and then when I'd used the best of the best, sell the new images with the album, so the new owner wouldn't have to open the fragile album, to see the images. The new black and white copies could be put in their own "everyday" album. I was willing to sell a few images of the steamships in Bracebridge Bay, circa 1890, but mostly I just wanted to sell the album after I was finished my research.
     One day, a steamship enthusiast, and regular customer, arrived at my sales desk, at Birch Hollow, to show me a nice black and white image, of an 1890's photograph he had just purchased from the local photographer who had done my work. My head hit the ceiling at the same time as my jaw hit the counter. All my key images had been sold by the gentleman who told me it was his right to do this, as he had made himself a set of negatives, in order to fill the order I had requested. So what he was saying, was that, "I had to make the negatives, and now I own them, so tough luck". The owner of the negatives is king presumably, and for his years in the industry, I guess he knew better than me. I watched a stream of historical types, heading up to the art supply shop, upstairs, to have their photos (from my album) framed, including one that actually was put on display in another Manitoba Street storefront, just to rub my nose in it. Well sir, now I own all my negatives of historic Muskoka scenes, and steamships. And I won't be making the same mistake that I did by having the album copied. I will sell the negatives when ready, and have no plans of marketing hundreds of similar images just to make a buck. I had no legal recourse. I had paid him to give me eight by ten glossy images. In order to do this, he had to re-photograph each image, and that gave him the negatives I didn't offer to pay for. Apparently I was supposed to stipulate that no negatives were to be kept by the photograher, of any images that had been copied.
     There are also examples of local historic signs coming for sale, and all I can advise, is to get (insist on) validation from the seller, as to what they once adorned, and when possible, how it came into their possession. Whenever I see these vintage signs, I make copious notes, and head home to research the wear, coloration, size, as compared to my archives of old photographs, and documentation in a variety of resource books. For the amount of money they are charging for these signs, it is entirely necessary to varify they are what the claim states. Is it a copy of an original? How many train stations were there in our regional towns? On the wharf? At the entrance to towns and villages? So if you're suspicious, don't buy on impulse. Check it out first. The libraries in our communities have excellent Muskoka collections, and you can usually find a book that will show an example of the train station or freight shed in question, on the river or lake, that would have had a town or village sign posted. I have examined one such sign, and I can't find a parallel, in any of the photographs I possess. I might have been interested if there was provenance, but there isn't anything of substance attached. If it was noted that a particular sign, for example, came from someone's estate, of a name I could associate with having the sign, or having some connection, such as working previously for the railway, then it would certainly increase the potential the sign isn't a duplicate.
     With the huge price increases I've seen out there for Muskoka collectibles, there is a necessity to check for authenticity, especially on items claimed to be one of a kind, rare, or having provenance that can not be varified.
     I will offer a few more Muskoka "collectible" related columns, for collectors, this coming week. Please join me. Thanks for visiting today's blog. See you again soon.

    

MUSKOKA IS STILL TOPS ON THE LOCAL COLLECTING MARKET

YOU CAN CLICK ON THE MUSIC VIDEO, ABOVE, TO VIEW THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY CLIP, PROFILING THE MODERNIST SPIN, ON THE AUGUST 1862 NAMING OF THE TOWN OF GRAVENHURST, AFTER THE TITLE OF A BOOK WRITTEN BY BRITISH AUTHOR, WILLIAM HENRY SMITH.


MUSKOKA IS STILL TOPS ON THE LOCAL COLLECTING MARKET

THE PRICES? A LITTLE CRAZY BUT THINGS ARE SELLING

     IN THE LATE 1990'S, WE BEGAN SELLING MUSKOKA RELATED COLLECTIBLES, ANTIQUES AND HISTORIC PAPER / DOCUMENTS, AND FOLK ART WITH A REGIONAL THEME. ONE OF OUR BIGGEST SELLERS, IN THOSE DAYS, WAS NAVIGATION COMPANY CRESTED HOTEL-WARE. WE HAD LOTS OF DISHES FROM THE MAJOR RESORTS INCLUDING BIGWIN INN. WE PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE HELD ONTO THE STUFF.....BUT WHAT ANTIQUE DEALER DOESN'T LAMENT SELLING THINGS TOO CHEAPLY FROM TIME TO TIME? TODAY HOWEVER, I FIND MYSELF INCREASINGLY AT ODDS, WITH THE WILD PRICE SWINGS FOR CERTAIN MEMORABILIA, MORESO THAN ANTIQUES THAT MAY BE ATTACHED IN PROVENANCE, TO SOME MAJOR RESORT. THESE MORE IMPORTANT PIECES, INCLUDING ACTUAL FURNITURE, TEND TO BE OF LESSER INTEREST GENERALLY, THAN IF SOME SMALL DISH OF HOTELWARE HAPPENS TO HAVE A CREST FROM A FORMER RESORT.......MAKING IT, PRESUMABLY, QUITE VALUABLE.
     WHEN I LAUGH OUT LOUD ABOUT SOME ANTIQUE DEALER, TRYING TO GET FOUR TIMES THE ACTUAL MARKET VALUE FOR A PIECE OF MUSKOKA NOSTALGIA, I KNOW IT'S TIME TO LEAVE THE SALE, THE MALL OR THE SHOP. I DON'T WANT TO OFFEND THE SELLERS, BUT SOMETIMES I DO FORCE THE ISSUE, AND ASK THEM TO DEFEND THE PRICE ON A PARTICULAR ITEM.....AND WHY IT IS ASTRONOMICALLY HIGH. "IT'S OUR PRICE, SO BUZZ OFF," IS A TYPICAL RESPONSE, IF THEY SENSE I'M BEING A SMART ASS. IN THE CASE OF MANY MUSKOKA COLLECTIBLES, HISTORIC PAPER, FOLK ART AND ANTIQUES (HAVING PROVENANCE LOCALLY), I AM MORE THAN QUALIFIED TO MAKE COMMENT. THEY JUST DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT, UNTIL THEY ASK WHO I THINK I AM.......AND THEN MORE THAN JUST A FEW GO....."OH DAMN........NICE TO MEET YOU MR. CURRIE." NO, I'M NOT SOMETHING SPECIAL. BUT I KNOW MY MUSKOKA HISTORY, WRITTEN AND OTHERWISE. AT THE VERY LEAST, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO QUALIFY WHY A PIECE IS PRICED AS IF CRUSTED WITH DIAMOND DUST. I ASK WHAT I WOULD BE VALUED AT, AS A MUSKOKA COLLECTIBLE. IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT, I COULD STAND IN YOUR COTTAGE OR BOATHOUSE, MEET YOUR GUESTS, AND MAKE HISTORICAL COMMENTS ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY. UNTIL I DIE OF BOREDOM, OF COURSE. THEN YOU WOULD HAVE A DECEASED HISTORIAN TO STUFF AND MOUNT, SITTING AT A DESK, OR AT THE PATIO TABLE OUT ON THE DECK.....LOOKING HISTORIC.
     WE SOLD HUNDREDS OF MUSKOKA HISTORIES, BOOKLETS AND DOCUMENTS BACK THEN, AND IN THE YEARS SINCE WE CLOSED OUR BRACEBRIDGE SHOP, WE CONTINUED TO MARKET LOCAL HISTORICAL ITEMS ONLINE. GADS, WE HAVE SOLD EVERYTHING FROM HISTORIC GLASS SLIDES FROM A LAKE ROSSEAU RESORT, (WITH IMAGES OF A DITCHBURN PULLING A WATER SKIER), TO ONE OF THE BENCHES FROM THE SAGAMO, CLEARLY THE MOST POPULAR OF OUR FORMER STEAMSHIP FLEET, PLYING THE MUSKOKA LAKES. WE HAVE SOLD A WAREHOUSE VOLUME OF MUSKOKA KEEPSAKES SINCE THE 1980'S, AND THOSE WHO KNOW OF OUR HANDIWORK, UNDERSTAND THIS TO BE THE TRUTH. AND WE'RE STILL SELLING MUSKOKA NOSTALGIA AND COLLECTIBLES, BUT NOT FOR A KING'S RANSOM. THE EXCEPTIONS, LIKE ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES THE WORLD OVER, DEPENDS ON RARITY AND UNIQUENESS. IF I HAVE A HANDWRITTEN PIONEER JOURNAL FOLKS, AND IT'S INSCRIBED FROM MUSKOKA, IT WILL BE THREE TIMES THE VALUE, AT LEAST, OF A SIMILAR JOURNAL / DIARY FROM ANYWHERE ELSE IN CANADA.......EXCEPT IF IT WAS WRITTEN BY A JESUIT IN THE 1600'S, AND HAPPENS TO BE IN MY POSSESSION.
     I DON'T KNOW WHETHER OR NOT THERE HAS BEEN A RESURGENCE IN INTEREST, BUT THE PRICES FOR ITEMS HAVE CERTAINLY ESCALATED INTO THE NOSEBLEED SECTION OF THE LOCAL ANTIQUE AND COLLECTIBLE INDUSTRY. I GET A KICK OUT OF SEEING THE PLETHORA OF MUSKOKA-RELATED ITEMS, AT PRICES THAT FRANKLY MAKE ME CRINGE, LAUGH, AND CRINGE AGAIN.  I HAVE APPRAISED MUSKOKA ANTIQUES AND BOOKS FOR YEARS, BUT APPARENTLY, THERE ARE SOME NEW VALUATIONS I HAVE TO MAKE MYSELF AWARE OF......AND SOME OF MY OWN PRIVATE STASH, TO RE-ASSESS, TO SEE IF WE'RE MILLIONAIRES YET. I'M JUST KIDDING. WE DON'T ADHERE TO THE PRICES SET BY ANYONE ELSE, UNLESS IT IS A SIGNIFICANT AUCTION, AND IN THE CASE OF A PARTICULAR LOCAL ARTIST, HIS OR HER WORK HAS FETCHED A MUCH HIGHER "TRADED" VALUE THAN PREVIOUS.  JUST BECAUSE SOME DEALER INFLATES A PIECE OF LOCAL MEMORABILIA, DOESN'T MEAN IT IS SETTING A TREND IN THE DISTRICT. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS KIND OF WILD SPECULATION, CAUSES PROBLEMS DOWN THE LINE, BECAUSE WE START GETTING SELLERS COMING TO US, WANTING THE BIG-BIG PRICES, THEY SAW FOR SIMILAR PIECES AT ANTIQUE SHOWS, AND IN CERTAIN SHOPS. WE TELL THEM TO GO BACK TO THE VENDOR THEY ARE REFERRING, AND SELL THEM THE ITEMS. I DON'T CARE HOW VALUABLE SOMEONE TELLS ME SOMETHING IS........BECAUSE UNTIL I HAVE PROOF AND VALIDATION, I DON'T GET INVOLVED IN RECKLESS SPECULATION. EVER. I LEARNED MY LESSON ABOUT SUPPLY AND DEMAND A LONG TIME AGO, AND THERE IS A PEAK COMING, SO BEWARE.

KEEPING PERSPECTIVE - AND KNOWING THE REGIONAL HISTORY FIRST

     As a collector / dealer, I do not hold special affection, or interest at all, for crested hotelware, regardless which of the hotels it came from. I do like to pick up Navigation Company pieces at flea markets and yards sales, because they will sell and for a substantial price. The reason of course is the publicity generated by the modern day Navigation Company and when "worldwide" recognition enters into it, prices are very much influenced.
     Generally, Suzanne and I buy and sell "made in Muskoka" pieces. Antiques, art and folk art that has local provenance......was inspired and made here, from quilts to sculptures....weather vanes, to hand crafted chairs, chests and tables. When I can find a local sampler, table-cloth made by one of the talented crafers of the past, or acquire everything from vintage home-made clothing to naive paintings, depicting rural life and times.....then I feel the effort of the long, long drives has been worth the miles travelled. Just meeting the families and owners of some of these amazing local pieces, is worth every moment and penny invested getting there.
     Consider the Winderemere Dairy cans and milk bottles, that have sold for substantial amounts, and the pop crates imprinted and used by Brown's Beverages here in Gravenhurst. We will buy them when they come available for a fair price. This year we sold six of them, that we found at a local fundraising sale, and sold them for about twenty-five dollars each. I have seen the same type of wooden boxes, from Browns, with asking prices nearly double this......and I find that borderline insanity. It's not like they're rare. It's just not so. I saw three today in my Saturday morning sale-hopping, so they're not rare, no matter what sellers tell you.    Even with crested china, so what? If the Brown's Beverage cases were created in Muskoka, or manufactured specifically by a local woodworker (who actually marked the piece as locally produced), I would think it far more worthy of being a true Muskoka collectible. Having a factory piece where they attached a logo, or crest, at a Toronto manufacturer, is just a neat collectible, but not worth the huge prices being asked around the region. If an individual walked into the shop, here in the former Muskoka Theatre building, on Gravenhurst's Muskoka Road, and asked if I would appraise a piece of crested china from Bigwin Inn (Lake of Bays), for example, I would range a valuation from $15.00 to $25.00. If they told me they paid upwards of $50.00 for a plate or cup and saucer, I'd have to say, in my professional opinion, they didn't get good value. Sorry. There is too much Bigwin hotelware around these parts, to justify the often ridiculously high prices being asked. There are the older Bigwin pieces, and many, many newer ones, from later years of the resort. Price has to reflect availability, just like real estate. Unfortunately, some buyers fall for the "they're rare" sales pitch, but there's no one, except me, to counter the claim. There's a good chance, I'm not going to be there, when you need me to offer a counter point.
     I have seen Muskoka books, that aren't even considered rare, priced "out of the park," and no one selling them, can justify the price to me. I know my Muskoka books, and have, over thirty odd years, helped complete dozens of "Muskoka Archive Collections," for those hobby historians who want one of each book written about our region. The situation is, that few of these folks, buying to sell, have been in the print business for as long as I have, and fail to recognize that rarity does very much influence the price of books in particular. As well, many of the most valuable books, that were initially printed in modest supply, have been reproduced, which has certainly changed the market demand, for those of us who sell antiquarian and collectible books. Many of the prices I've seen for Muskoka books lately, have crossed the line between....high but acceptable, to the stratasphere of "beyond justification."
     What will people pay for this stuff? That's the million dollar question. What happens, to bring this up close and personal to me, is that some of these speculators, will come to me for a valuation, but they already have it in their minds, that this will be a holy grail. I've seen a fair number of holy grails in my time, believe it or not, and I'm not going to get misty eyed, by some crested platter from the 1930's, that once held slabs of beef, or some vegetables. If they have a navigational piece, or a chunk od Ditchburn (or other Muskoka boat heritage), the prices are substantially higher overall....and part of this has to do with the immense popularity in North America of antique wooden boats. A folk art painting, or wood sculpture, representative of Muskoka, would interest me, and my valuations for a well executed painting of a local scene, or townscape, by a known artist, would be a semi-holy-grail. But a crock with the name of a local merchant inked on the side, wouldn't stir the collector-within. The crock and its imprint were not made in Muskoka, but just like today, personalized with advertising identification by some company, and sent to the business that ordered them. In my opinion, that makes a crappy Muskoka keepsake, and although I'd buy one to flip for a few bucks profit, it wouldn't be something that I'd seek out as a status item for my collection.
     I've had some truly bad experiences in the Muskoka-collectible trade, and the one hardest to forget, was the time I asked a local photographer to copy a very nice, late 1800's album, of about thirty images, mostly of the Bracebridge area. I had paid a significant amount for the album, and the idea, was to include the blow-up images, first in my newspaper column in The Muskoka Advance (Muskoka History Sketches), and then when I'd used the best of the best, sell the new images with the album, so the new owner wouldn't have to open the fragile album, to see the images. The new black and white copies could be put in their own "everyday" album. I was willing to sell a few images of the steamships in Bracebridge Bay, circa 1890, but mostly I just wanted to sell the album after I was finished my research.
     One day, a steamship enthusiast, and regular customer, arrived at my sales desk, at Birch Hollow, to show me a nice black and white image, of an 1890's photograph he had just purchased from the local photographer who had done my work. My head hit the ceiling at the same time as my jaw hit the counter. All my key images had been sold by the gentleman who told me it was his right to do this, as he had made himself a set of negatives, in order to fill the order I had requested. So what he was saying, was that, "I had to make the negatives, and now I own them, so tough luck". The owner of the negatives is king presumably, and for his years in the industry, I guess he knew better than me. I watched a stream of historical types, heading up to the art supply shop, upstairs, to have their photos (from my album) framed, including one that actually was put on display in another Manitoba Street storefront, just to rub my nose in it. Well sir, now I own all my negatives of historic Muskoka scenes, and steamships. And I won't be making the same mistake that I did by having the album copied. I will sell the negatives when ready, and have no plans of marketing hundreds of similar images just to make a buck. I had no legal recourse. I had paid him to give me eight by ten glossy images. In order to do this, he had to re-photograph each image, and that gave him the negatives I didn't offer to pay for. Apparently I was supposed to stipulate that no negatives were to be kept by the photograher, of any images that had been copied.
     There are also examples of local historic signs coming for sale, and all I can advise, is to get (insist on) validation from the seller, as to what they once adorned, and when possible, how it came into their possession. Whenever I see these vintage signs, I make copious notes, and head home to research the wear, coloration, size, as compared to my archives of old photographs, and documentation in a variety of resource books. For the amount of money they are charging for these signs, it is entirely necessary to varify they are what the claim states. Is it a copy of an original? How many train stations were there in our regional towns? On the wharf? At the entrance to towns and villages? So if you're suspicious, don't buy on impulse. Check it out first. The libraries in our communities have excellent Muskoka collections, and you can usually find a book that will show an example of the train station or freight shed in question, on the river or lake, that would have had a town or village sign posted. I have examined one such sign, and I can't find a parallel, in any of the photographs I possess. I might have been interested if there was provenance, but there isn't anything of substance attached. If it was noted that a particular sign, for example, came from someone's estate, of a name I could associate with having the sign, or having some connection, such as working previously for the railway, then it would certainly increase the potential the sign isn't a duplicate.
     With the huge price increases I've seen out there for Muskoka collectibles, there is a necessity to check for authenticity, especially on items claimed to be one of a kind, rare, or having provenance that can not be varified.
     I will offer a few more Muskoka "collectible" related columns, for collectors, this coming week. Please join me. Thanks for visiting today's blog. See you again soon.

    

MUSKOKA IS STILL TOPS ON THE LOCAL COLLECTING MARKET

YOU CAN CLICK ON THE MUSIC VIDEO, ABOVE, TO VIEW THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY CLIP, PROFILING THE MODERNIST SPIN, ON THE AUGUST 1862 NAMING OF THE TOWN OF GRAVENHURST, AFTER THE TITLE OF A BOOK WRITTEN BY BRITISH AUTHOR, WILLIAM HENRY SMITH.


MUSKOKA IS STILL TOPS ON THE LOCAL COLLECTING MARKET

THE PRICES? A LITTLE CRAZY BUT THINGS ARE SELLING

     IN THE LATE 1990'S, WE BEGAN SELLING MUSKOKA RELATED COLLECTIBLES, ANTIQUES AND HISTORIC PAPER / DOCUMENTS, AND FOLK ART WITH A REGIONAL THEME. ONE OF OUR BIGGEST SELLERS, IN THOSE DAYS, WAS NAVIGATION COMPANY CRESTED HOTEL-WARE. WE HAD LOTS OF DISHES FROM THE MAJOR RESORTS INCLUDING BIGWIN INN. WE PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE HELD ONTO THE STUFF.....BUT WHAT ANTIQUE DEALER DOESN'T LAMENT SELLING THINGS TOO CHEAPLY FROM TIME TO TIME? TODAY HOWEVER, I FIND MYSELF INCREASINGLY AT ODDS, WITH THE WILD PRICE SWINGS FOR CERTAIN MEMORABILIA, MORESO THAN ANTIQUES THAT MAY BE ATTACHED IN PROVENANCE, TO SOME MAJOR RESORT. THESE MORE IMPORTANT PIECES, INCLUDING ACTUAL FURNITURE, TEND TO BE OF LESSER INTEREST GENERALLY, THAN IF SOME SMALL DISH OF HOTELWARE HAPPENS TO HAVE A CREST FROM A FORMER RESORT.......MAKING IT, PRESUMABLY, QUITE VALUABLE.
     WHEN I LAUGH OUT LOUD ABOUT SOME ANTIQUE DEALER, TRYING TO GET FOUR TIMES THE ACTUAL MARKET VALUE FOR A PIECE OF MUSKOKA NOSTALGIA, I KNOW IT'S TIME TO LEAVE THE SALE, THE MALL OR THE SHOP. I DON'T WANT TO OFFEND THE SELLERS, BUT SOMETIMES I DO FORCE THE ISSUE, AND ASK THEM TO DEFEND THE PRICE ON A PARTICULAR ITEM.....AND WHY IT IS ASTRONOMICALLY HIGH. "IT'S OUR PRICE, SO BUZZ OFF," IS A TYPICAL RESPONSE, IF THEY SENSE I'M BEING A SMART ASS. IN THE CASE OF MANY MUSKOKA COLLECTIBLES, HISTORIC PAPER, FOLK ART AND ANTIQUES (HAVING PROVENANCE LOCALLY), I AM MORE THAN QUALIFIED TO MAKE COMMENT. THEY JUST DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT, UNTIL THEY ASK WHO I THINK I AM.......AND THEN MORE THAN JUST A FEW GO....."OH DAMN........NICE TO MEET YOU MR. CURRIE." NO, I'M NOT SOMETHING SPECIAL. BUT I KNOW MY MUSKOKA HISTORY, WRITTEN AND OTHERWISE. AT THE VERY LEAST, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO QUALIFY WHY A PIECE IS PRICED AS IF CRUSTED WITH DIAMOND DUST. I ASK WHAT I WOULD BE VALUED AT, AS A MUSKOKA COLLECTIBLE. IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT, I COULD STAND IN YOUR COTTAGE OR BOATHOUSE, MEET YOUR GUESTS, AND MAKE HISTORICAL COMMENTS ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY. UNTIL I DIE OF BOREDOM, OF COURSE. THEN YOU WOULD HAVE A DECEASED HISTORIAN TO STUFF AND MOUNT, SITTING AT A DESK, OR AT THE PATIO TABLE OUT ON THE DECK.....LOOKING HISTORIC.
     WE SOLD HUNDREDS OF MUSKOKA HISTORIES, BOOKLETS AND DOCUMENTS BACK THEN, AND IN THE YEARS SINCE WE CLOSED OUR BRACEBRIDGE SHOP, WE CONTINUED TO MARKET LOCAL HISTORICAL ITEMS ONLINE. GADS, WE HAVE SOLD EVERYTHING FROM HISTORIC GLASS SLIDES FROM A LAKE ROSSEAU RESORT, (WITH IMAGES OF A DITCHBURN PULLING A WATER SKIER), TO ONE OF THE BENCHES FROM THE SAGAMO, CLEARLY THE MOST POPULAR OF OUR FORMER STEAMSHIP FLEET, PLYING THE MUSKOKA LAKES. WE HAVE SOLD A WAREHOUSE VOLUME OF MUSKOKA KEEPSAKES SINCE THE 1980'S, AND THOSE WHO KNOW OF OUR HANDIWORK, UNDERSTAND THIS TO BE THE TRUTH. AND WE'RE STILL SELLING MUSKOKA NOSTALGIA AND COLLECTIBLES, BUT NOT FOR A KING'S RANSOM. THE EXCEPTIONS, LIKE ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES THE WORLD OVER, DEPENDS ON RARITY AND UNIQUENESS. IF I HAVE A HANDWRITTEN PIONEER JOURNAL FOLKS, AND IT'S INSCRIBED FROM MUSKOKA, IT WILL BE THREE TIMES THE VALUE, AT LEAST, OF A SIMILAR JOURNAL / DIARY FROM ANYWHERE ELSE IN CANADA.......EXCEPT IF IT WAS WRITTEN BY A JESUIT IN THE 1600'S, AND HAPPENS TO BE IN MY POSSESSION.
     I DON'T KNOW WHETHER OR NOT THERE HAS BEEN A RESURGENCE IN INTEREST, BUT THE PRICES FOR ITEMS HAVE CERTAINLY ESCALATED INTO THE NOSEBLEED SECTION OF THE LOCAL ANTIQUE AND COLLECTIBLE INDUSTRY. I GET A KICK OUT OF SEEING THE PLETHORA OF MUSKOKA-RELATED ITEMS, AT PRICES THAT FRANKLY MAKE ME CRINGE, LAUGH, AND CRINGE AGAIN.  I HAVE APPRAISED MUSKOKA ANTIQUES AND BOOKS FOR YEARS, BUT APPARENTLY, THERE ARE SOME NEW VALUATIONS I HAVE TO MAKE MYSELF AWARE OF......AND SOME OF MY OWN PRIVATE STASH, TO RE-ASSESS, TO SEE IF WE'RE MILLIONAIRES YET. I'M JUST KIDDING. WE DON'T ADHERE TO THE PRICES SET BY ANYONE ELSE, UNLESS IT IS A SIGNIFICANT AUCTION, AND IN THE CASE OF A PARTICULAR LOCAL ARTIST, HIS OR HER WORK HAS FETCHED A MUCH HIGHER "TRADED" VALUE THAN PREVIOUS.  JUST BECAUSE SOME DEALER INFLATES A PIECE OF LOCAL MEMORABILIA, DOESN'T MEAN IT IS SETTING A TREND IN THE DISTRICT. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS KIND OF WILD SPECULATION, CAUSES PROBLEMS DOWN THE LINE, BECAUSE WE START GETTING SELLERS COMING TO US, WANTING THE BIG-BIG PRICES, THEY SAW FOR SIMILAR PIECES AT ANTIQUE SHOWS, AND IN CERTAIN SHOPS. WE TELL THEM TO GO BACK TO THE VENDOR THEY ARE REFERRING, AND SELL THEM THE ITEMS. I DON'T CARE HOW VALUABLE SOMEONE TELLS ME SOMETHING IS........BECAUSE UNTIL I HAVE PROOF AND VALIDATION, I DON'T GET INVOLVED IN RECKLESS SPECULATION. EVER. I LEARNED MY LESSON ABOUT SUPPLY AND DEMAND A LONG TIME AGO, AND THERE IS A PEAK COMING, SO BEWARE.

KEEPING PERSPECTIVE - AND KNOWING THE REGIONAL HISTORY FIRST

     As a collector / dealer, I do not hold special affection, or interest at all, for crested hotelware, regardless which of the hotels it came from. I do like to pick up Navigation Company pieces at flea markets and yards sales, because they will sell and for a substantial price. The reason of course is the publicity generated by the modern day Navigation Company and when "worldwide" recognition enters into it, prices are very much influenced.
     Generally, Suzanne and I buy and sell "made in Muskoka" pieces. Antiques, art and folk art that has local provenance......was inspired and made here, from quilts to sculptures....weather vanes, to hand crafted chairs, chests and tables. When I can find a local sampler, table-cloth made by one of the talented crafers of the past, or acquire everything from vintage home-made clothing to naive paintings, depicting rural life and times.....then I feel the effort of the long, long drives has been worth the miles travelled. Just meeting the families and owners of some of these amazing local pieces, is worth every moment and penny invested getting there.
     Consider the Winderemere Dairy cans and milk bottles, that have sold for substantial amounts, and the pop crates imprinted and used by Brown's Beverages here in Gravenhurst. We will buy them when they come available for a fair price. This year we sold six of them, that we found at a local fundraising sale, and sold them for about twenty-five dollars each. I have seen the same type of wooden boxes, from Browns, with asking prices nearly double this......and I find that borderline insanity. It's not like they're rare. It's just not so. I saw three today in my Saturday morning sale-hopping, so they're not rare, no matter what sellers tell you.    Even with crested china, so what? If the Brown's Beverage cases were created in Muskoka, or manufactured specifically by a local woodworker (who actually marked the piece as locally produced), I would think it far more worthy of being a true Muskoka collectible. Having a factory piece where they attached a logo, or crest, at a Toronto manufacturer, is just a neat collectible, but not worth the huge prices being asked around the region. If an individual walked into the shop, here in the former Muskoka Theatre building, on Gravenhurst's Muskoka Road, and asked if I would appraise a piece of crested china from Bigwin Inn (Lake of Bays), for example, I would range a valuation from $15.00 to $25.00. If they told me they paid upwards of $50.00 for a plate or cup and saucer, I'd have to say, in my professional opinion, they didn't get good value. Sorry. There is too much Bigwin hotelware around these parts, to justify the often ridiculously high prices being asked. There are the older Bigwin pieces, and many, many newer ones, from later years of the resort. Price has to reflect availability, just like real estate. Unfortunately, some buyers fall for the "they're rare" sales pitch, but there's no one, except me, to counter the claim. There's a good chance, I'm not going to be there, when you need me to offer a counter point.
     I have seen Muskoka books, that aren't even considered rare, priced "out of the park," and no one selling them, can justify the price to me. I know my Muskoka books, and have, over thirty odd years, helped complete dozens of "Muskoka Archive Collections," for those hobby historians who want one of each book written about our region. The situation is, that few of these folks, buying to sell, have been in the print business for as long as I have, and fail to recognize that rarity does very much influence the price of books in particular. As well, many of the most valuable books, that were initially printed in modest supply, have been reproduced, which has certainly changed the market demand, for those of us who sell antiquarian and collectible books. Many of the prices I've seen for Muskoka books lately, have crossed the line between....high but acceptable, to the stratasphere of "beyond justification."
     What will people pay for this stuff? That's the million dollar question. What happens, to bring this up close and personal to me, is that some of these speculators, will come to me for a valuation, but they already have it in their minds, that this will be a holy grail. I've seen a fair number of holy grails in my time, believe it or not, and I'm not going to get misty eyed, by some crested platter from the 1930's, that once held slabs of beef, or some vegetables. If they have a navigational piece, or a chunk od Ditchburn (or other Muskoka boat heritage), the prices are substantially higher overall....and part of this has to do with the immense popularity in North America of antique wooden boats. A folk art painting, or wood sculpture, representative of Muskoka, would interest me, and my valuations for a well executed painting of a local scene, or townscape, by a known artist, would be a semi-holy-grail. But a crock with the name of a local merchant inked on the side, wouldn't stir the collector-within. The crock and its imprint were not made in Muskoka, but just like today, personalized with advertising identification by some company, and sent to the business that ordered them. In my opinion, that makes a crappy Muskoka keepsake, and although I'd buy one to flip for a few bucks profit, it wouldn't be something that I'd seek out as a status item for my collection.
     I've had some truly bad experiences in the Muskoka-collectible trade, and the one hardest to forget, was the time I asked a local photographer to copy a very nice, late 1800's album, of about thirty images, mostly of the Bracebridge area. I had paid a significant amount for the album, and the idea, was to include the blow-up images, first in my newspaper column in The Muskoka Advance (Muskoka History Sketches), and then when I'd used the best of the best, sell the new images with the album, so the new owner wouldn't have to open the fragile album, to see the images. The new black and white copies could be put in their own "everyday" album. I was willing to sell a few images of the steamships in Bracebridge Bay, circa 1890, but mostly I just wanted to sell the album after I was finished my research.
     One day, a steamship enthusiast, and regular customer, arrived at my sales desk, at Birch Hollow, to show me a nice black and white image, of an 1890's photograph he had just purchased from the local photographer who had done my work. My head hit the ceiling at the same time as my jaw hit the counter. All my key images had been sold by the gentleman who told me it was his right to do this, as he had made himself a set of negatives, in order to fill the order I had requested. So what he was saying, was that, "I had to make the negatives, and now I own them, so tough luck". The owner of the negatives is king presumably, and for his years in the industry, I guess he knew better than me. I watched a stream of historical types, heading up to the art supply shop, upstairs, to have their photos (from my album) framed, including one that actually was put on display in another Manitoba Street storefront, just to rub my nose in it. Well sir, now I own all my negatives of historic Muskoka scenes, and steamships. And I won't be making the same mistake that I did by having the album copied. I will sell the negatives when ready, and have no plans of marketing hundreds of similar images just to make a buck. I had no legal recourse. I had paid him to give me eight by ten glossy images. In order to do this, he had to re-photograph each image, and that gave him the negatives I didn't offer to pay for. Apparently I was supposed to stipulate that no negatives were to be kept by the photograher, of any images that had been copied.
     There are also examples of local historic signs coming for sale, and all I can advise, is to get (insist on) validation from the seller, as to what they once adorned, and when possible, how it came into their possession. Whenever I see these vintage signs, I make copious notes, and head home to research the wear, coloration, size, as compared to my archives of old photographs, and documentation in a variety of resource books. For the amount of money they are charging for these signs, it is entirely necessary to varify they are what the claim states. Is it a copy of an original? How many train stations were there in our regional towns? On the wharf? At the entrance to towns and villages? So if you're suspicious, don't buy on impulse. Check it out first. The libraries in our communities have excellent Muskoka collections, and you can usually find a book that will show an example of the train station or freight shed in question, on the river or lake, that would have had a town or village sign posted. I have examined one such sign, and I can't find a parallel, in any of the photographs I possess. I might have been interested if there was provenance, but there isn't anything of substance attached. If it was noted that a particular sign, for example, came from someone's estate, of a name I could associate with having the sign, or having some connection, such as working previously for the railway, then it would certainly increase the potential the sign isn't a duplicate.
     With the huge price increases I've seen out there for Muskoka collectibles, there is a necessity to check for authenticity, especially on items claimed to be one of a kind, rare, or having provenance that can not be varified.
     I will offer a few more Muskoka "collectible" related columns, for collectors, this coming week. Please join me. Thanks for visiting today's blog. See you again soon.

    

THE UNSUNG HERO OF GRAVENHURST - OR THE UNSUNG WRITER WE NEVER KNEW

LEASE TAKE TIME TO VIEW THE COMMEMORATIVE MUSIC VIDEO, CELEBRATING THE 15OTH ANNIVERSARY. YOU CAN CLICK ONTO THE IMAGE ABOVE TO SEE THE VIDEO. DEPENDING ON YOUR INTERNET SERVICE, YOU MAY HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE VIDEO TO LOAD, BEFORE IT COMMENCES.


THE UNSUNG HERO OF GRAVENHURST -  OR THE UNSUNG WRITER WE NEVER KNEW

WHY WE SHOULD GET TO KNOW WILLIAM HENRY SMITH

    ONE THING'S FOR SURE. WHEN IT COMES AROUND TO THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OFFICIAL NAMING OF GRAVENHURST, I WON'T BE AS SPRY AS I AM TODAY. AND THAT'S HALF AS SPRY AS A FEW YEARS AGO, WHEN I COULD STILL PLAY THREE PERIODS OF HOCKEY, AND HOIST A PINT IN THE TAVERN AT THE HOT STOVE LEAGUE.....WITHOUT HAVING TO CALL PARAMEDICS.
    IF YOU THOUGHT THERE WAS GOING TO BE A PARADE DOWN MUSKOKA ROAD, TO RECOGNIZE THE NAMING OF OUR FIRST POST OFFICE, IN AUGUST 1862, IN HONOR OF THE GENTLEMAN WHO PENNED THE NAME "GRAVENHURST," WELL, THEN YOU WOULD HAVE OBVIOUSLY BEEN LINED-UP FOR NOTHING. THERE WASN'T A "WILLILAM HENRY SMITH" DAY, LIKE THEY HAVE FOR ROBBIE BURNS, AND THERE WASN'T A MEMORIAL BASEBALL GAME OR SOCCER MATCH HELD IN HIS HONOR. WHY WOULD THERE BE? SMITH WASN'T ALL THAT ATHLETIC ANYWAY. JUST A REALLY GOOD WRITER.
    THE FACT THE TOWN DECIDED TO CELEBRATE THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS INCORPORATION, WHICH IS LARGELY A CLERICAL, MUNICPAL THING, INSTEAD OF RECOGNIZING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS NAMING, BY POSTAL AUTHORITY WILLIAM DAWSON LESUEUR, IS JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS.......I CAN'T EXPLAIN BUT DON'T FEEL THERE IS ANY REAL NECESSITY TO PURSUE THE MATTER, OTHER THAN TO MAKE SURE THIS LOCAL HISTORIAN UPHOLDS THE HONOR AND TRIBUTE OF THAT OCCASION IN AUGUST 1862. IT WAS THE EVENT THAT LESUEUR INTENDED AS AN HONOR TO THE SMALL HAMLET IN SOUTH MUSKOKA, AND A TRIBUTE TO AN AUTHOR HE FOUND A KINDRED SPIRIT, IN THE PASSIONATE PURSUIT OF GOOD LITERATURE. IT JUST DIDN'T HAPPEN QUITE THE WAY LESUEUR INTENDED IT, BECAUSE HE NEVER FULLY EXPLAINED THE PROVENANCE HE HAD BESTOWED TO THE NEW CITIZENS OF FLEDGLING GRAVENHURST. MAYBE IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT NOW, IF HE HAD OFFERED THIS EXPLANATION, AND THERE WOULD BE "SMITH DAYS" WITH WINE TASTING, REGATTAS, FOOD FESTIVALS, AND QUARTETS PLAYING IN NOOKS AND CRANNIES ALL OVER THIS TOWN.
  ADMITTEDLY, IT IS A LITTLE SAD, YOU KNOW, THAT OUR TOWN HAS FELT IT UNIMPORTANT TO PURSUE THIS WONDERFUL CONNECTION, AND EVEN AS I HAVE BEEN PROMOTING THIS ANNIVERSARY FOR THE LAST TWO MONTHS, THERE HASN'T BEEN A WHISPER OF A RESPONSE......EVEN IN RETROSPECT, OFFERING AT THE VERY LEAST, A MUNICIPALLY ENDORSED PRESS RELEASE, ACKNOWLEDGING THEIR OWN HISTORIC MILESTONE. SEEING AS THEY CAN'T RECLAIM THE NAME "MCCABE'S LANDING," THE NAME LESUEUR REJECTED IN FAVOR OF SMITH'S, "GRAVENHURST," IT WOULD SEEM LOGICAL AND PROPORTIONAL TO THE REALITY "TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN," TO FINALLY EMBRACE THIS HERITAGE WITH ALL ITS LITERARY AND INTERNATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE. OF COURSE THIS IS MY OPINION, AND I'M NEVER CONSULTED TO EXPRESS IT.....BEYOND WHAT I MIGHT POUND ONTO MY BLOG-SPACE HERE AND NOW.
    I WANT TO CARRY ON TODAY, WITH A LITTLE MORE BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL ABOUT WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, AND SOME OF THE OVERVIEWS MADE BY HIS WIFE, IN THE PRIVATELY PUBLISHED, 1875 MEMORIAL SECOND EDITION OF HIS BOOK, "GRAVENHURST; OR THOUGHTS ON GOOD AND EVIL," ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1861 / 62. I WILL FINISH THE FOUR PART BLOG-CHAPTERS, BY TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT LUCY SMITH'S OVERVIEW OF HER HUSBAND'S WRITING AND LOVE FOR LIFE.

A GENTLE AND KIND MAN, WHO CHALLENGED HIS READERS TO THINK CRITICALLY

    (A small section repeated from yesterday for context) "A visit paid to a poor woman in distress, and a conversation held with a dear friend, who keeps alive in me the habit of philosophical discussion, had led my thoughts in this direction. It was the hour of sunset. As I paused upon the parapet of our little bridge, the distant Welsh hills were glowing in their purple splendour; the river ran gold at my feet; every branch of every graceful tree that hung silently in the air received and reflected a new beauty from that entire scene of enchantment, to which also it brought its own contribution. Such harmony there is in nature. The whole which is formed itself of separate parts, gives to each part its meaning and charm," writes Mr. Smith.
    "Yet even here, in this scene of enchantment, I was compelled to recall to my imagination that poor woman whose desolate hearth I had lately visited - I was compelled to revive those discordant scenes of war, of carnage, of treachery, of famine, which my friend, an old Indian general, had been dilating upon. No harmony then, and little peace, in this other world of humanity. Is there truly some diabolic element amongst us? Has the beneficient harmony which human nature should disclose, been invaded, broken up, irrecoverably destroyed by some tyrannous spirit of evil? It seems so."
    Smith responds to his own question, answering that, "I reflected within myself - since wherever science has penetrated, disorder and confusion disappear, and a harmonious whole is presented to us, it may happen that this sense of diabolic confusion in the arena of human life would vanish before light of a wider and clearer knowledge."
    The passage above would have appealed to William Dawson LeSueur's philosophy of critical thought, and found the historical sensibility of attaining a "the light of a wider and clearer knowledge." LeSueur, a huge advocate of using as many resources as possible, to ascertain the truth of situations, and the stability of historic fact, would have had possession of Smith's book, in 1862, as he was a well known literary critic, and author of reviews, when not working as a federal civil service with the Post Office Department. It was in 1862 that LeSueur borrowed the name of Smith's book, and awarded it to the hamlet post office of the former McCabe's Landing. As LeSueur was not a practical joker, it must be assumed he found it an honor to the book, the author, and the community, when he selected this title, from a newly released, scholarly book, that by the way, is still in print and considerable demand to this day. You can read the entire book by visiting Google Books, and typing in the author's name and the title of the book.
    "And now let me say a word or two of the Village of Gravenhurst, near to which I sit and write, and of the friends whose conversations I have here reported," writes Smith. "But, afterall, I cannot describe this Gravenhurst except by expressions which would serve equally well for hundreds of villages in England. (For Smith, the name is fictitious, even though there is an actual village of Gravenhurst in Bedfordshire). "It is a commonplace ordinary village. So much the better, perhaps, for me who have to treat what is common and general amongst mankind. It is well to have under my eye a specimen easily examined of our ordinary pleasures, afffections, miseries, errors and truths; and I think that the more carefully such a specimen were examined the more marvellous would human life appear. I think too, that such an examination would kindle in us a rational love of this human life."
    He suggests, "Here is this village of Gravenhurst - now growing fast into a town - with its long straggling street, its church, its chapel, its bridge over the river, its green fields through which that river flows - what could be more commonplace? The country, we the inhabitants, think beautiful, but it boasts nothing to invite the stranger or tourist, and the villagers are certainly of a quite ordinary stamp. It has its outlying gentry, its clergy, its doctor, and here and there an exceptional character - a curiosity, as we say. If it had do curiosities of this kind it would not be an ordinary village, but a most rare and unexampled one. But this village of Gravenhurst - seated amongst its fields and its pastures, with its sky and the moving clouds above it, and its infinite horizon, and its births, marriages, and deaths of most ordinary people, would be an endless theme for poet or philosopher. To the man of genius this commonplace of nature and of man is inexhaustible.
    "The poet wants nothing else; and of the philosopher the frequency or generality of a fact, or a passion, or a thought, augments its value incalculably. I only wish I had the power given me to represent this commonplace in the glory and the novelty it sometimes reveals itself to me. I wish I had the power given me to teach some men whom I could name - strong headed men perchance, but prone to ponder on the mere dust and dross of humanity - to look abroad with their hearts in their eyes, and note the beauty and wonder there is in the daily spectacle, and the daily passion of our lives."
    "Commonplace! Look up! What is that apparition of dazzling brightness rising softly upon the blue sky from behind the those tall and massive elms? If you saw it for the first time in your life you would say it must be some celestial visitant. Is it light itself from heaven taking shape, and just softened and subdued to the endurance of mortal vision. It is nothing but a cloud! Mere vapour that the unseen wind moves and moulds, and that the sun shines on for a little time. And now it has risen above the massive and lofty tree, and throws light upward to the sky, and throws its pleasant shadow down upon the earth - pleasant shadow that paces along the meadows, leaving behind a greater brilliancy on tree and grass, and hedge, and flower, than what, for a moment it had eclipsed. It is all commonplace. Light and shadow, and the river, the meadow with its clover blossoms and childish buttercups," writes Smith so eloquently, of these taken-for-granted country scenes, we might observe in passing, but seldom spend much time contemplating, for the intracacies of their nature.
    In tommorrow's blog, I will conclude this brief memorial / anniversary tribute to author / philospher William Henry Smith, quoting from his wife Lucy's final words, in the 1875 edition of "Gravenhurst," about his distinguished life and career. It won't be marked by the launch of an anniversary hot-air balloon, or the setting up of a William Henry Smith "petting zoo," for the day, or be the subject of a lecture at the Opera House. No, dear readers, it will be a simple, final tribute to both William Dawson LeSueur, the brilliant chap who gave us our name, and William Henry Smith, who so graciously gave us a wonderful life of literature, and literary review.
    Don't forget to check out the music video, by clicking on the box, at the top of the page, to engage the You Tube connection.
    Thanks for visiting today. Please join me for the conclusion of this four part series, tommorrow. Until then......



CONCLUSION -

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO VIEW THE COMMEMORATIVE MUSIC VIDEO CELEBRATING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NAMING OF GRAVENHURST, ONTARIO. WHEN YOU CLICK ON BOX, YOU MAY HAVE TO WAIT SEVERAL MOMENTS FOR THE VIDOE TO LOAD.

COULD WE EVER FORGE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HERITAGE OF WILLIAM HENRY SMITH?

WHAT WE ARE MISSING, OF OUR LEGITIMATE LITERARY CONNECTION?

    A FEW MOMENTS AGO, I WAS STUCK IN A LAWNCHAIR ON THE LAWN OF BIRCH HOLLOW, OUR TINY RESIDENCE ADJACENT TO THE BOG, AND FRANKLY, I HAD TWO CHOICES IN FRONT OF ME. ENJOY THE TRULY AMAZING SUMMER AFTERNOON, LISTEN TO THE BIRDS CHIRPING FROM THE LILAC BRANCHES, ENJOY THE AROMA OF THE SWEET GRASS GROWING SOMEWHERE CLOSE, AND WATCHING THE FAT CLOUDS FLOAT FROM ONE HORIZON TO THE OTHER. OR I COULD RISE AND CHALLENGE THIS FINAL CHAPTER, OF THE FOUR PART SERIES ON THE 15OTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NAMING OF THE FIRST GRAVENHURST POST OFFICE, IN AUGUST 1862, AFTER THE TITLE OF BRITISH AUTHOR, WILLIAM HENRY SMITH'S BOOK, "GRAVENHURST; OR THOUGHTS ON GOOD AND EVIL."
    I TRIED TO GET OUT OF THE COMFORTABLE ACCOMMODATION THREE OR FOUR TIMES, AND ON EACH OCCASION, I FOUND REASON TO SIT BACK DOWN, AND CONTEMPLATE FOR A FEW MOMENTS LONGER. THE SCENE IN FRONT OF ME, LOOKING OUT OVER THE BOG, OUR BEAUTIFUL LOWLAND HERE IN THE CALYDOR NEIGHBORHOOD, OF GRAVENHURST, AFFORDS THE WRITER EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO BE INSPIRED......IF SO DESIRED. I HAVE FOUND THIS SHADY SPOT, ON THE HOT DAYS OF THE SUMMER, A PERFECT RETREAT WITH PEN AND PAD, AND I MUST SAY, IT HAS BEEN NO WORK AT ALL, TO SPEND MOST OF A MORNING OR AFTERNOON, FINDING THINGS TO WRITE ABOUT WITH THIS SAME, EVER-CHANGING VENUE. THE MOOD OF THE LANDSCAPE CHANGES CONSTANTLY, AT THE WHIM OF A RISING BREEZE; OR THE SUDDEN EVENT OF ENCROACHING  CLOUD COVER, THAT CHANGES SO DRAMATICALLY THE LIGHT AND SHADOW, WHICH CONTRASTS STARKLY, THESE IMPOSING TALL PINES, LEANING BIRCH AND WAVERING, ALMOST FLOATING  CAT-TAILS DEEP IN THE BASIN. IT'S NOT HARD WHATSOEVER, FALLING GENTLY INTO THE WORK OF WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, AND HIS OWN COMPELLING OBSERVATIONS OF THE "FICTITIOUS" GRAVENHURST, AND ITS NATURAL ADORNMENTS. THERE IS NO FICTION HERE TODAY. THIS IS OUR WORLD. THIS IS OUR GRAVENHURST. THIS IS MY LAWNCHAIR, OF WHICH I MUST NOW VACATE, IN ORDER TO COMPLETE THIS FINAL BLOG-CHAPTER ON THE GOOD MR. SMITH.

INVIGORATED AS A WRITER, CONTENTED BY HIS CRAFT, ILLUMINATED BY TRUTH

    "That must have been a happy home at North End, Hammersmith, into which, during the January of 1808, William Henry Smith was born, the youngest of a large family," wrote his wife Lucy, in 1873, a year after the author's death in England. "His father, a man of strong natural intelligence, having early made a fortune sufficient for his wants, early retired from business, in consequence mainly of an asthmatic tendency, which had harnessed him from the age of 30. The impression I gained of him from his son's description was that of one peculiarly fond of quiet and books, but whose will gave law to his household, and was uniformly seconded by the loving loyalty of his wife.
    "Here is another glimpse of the enjoyments of those early days. The cheerful drawing room in the Hammersmith home had a window at both ends. Round the one that looked into the garden clustered the white blossoms or hung the luscious - a swan egg - the life of which was never met in later years. From the other window the children could watch the following spectacle, which my husband evidently enjoyed recalling in a notice of 'Mr. Knight's Reminiscences, published in 1864." In the words of William Smith, from his vantage point as a child, recalled:
    "Very pleasant is this looking back over a period of history through which we have too lived. Give a boy a telescope, and if he is far enough away from home, the first or the greatest delight he has in the use of it, is to point it back, to the house he lives in. To see the pailings of his own garden, to see his father at work in it, or a younger brother playing in it, is a far greater treat than if you were to show him the coast of France or any other distant object. And so it is with the past in time. If the telescope of the historian brings back to us events through which we have lived, and which were already fading away in the memory, he gives us quite a peculair pleasure"
    One of Smith's favorite childhood memories, addressed the matter of changing modes of transportation in England, and the wheels of progress that had brought forth, the steaming train engine, winding through the countryside on those silver rails.
    "This great revolution in our mode of travelling, the substitution of the steam engine for the horse, will soon be matter of history, and older men will begin to record, with that peculiar zest which belongs to the recollection of youth, the aspect which the highway roads leading out of London presented in their time. The railway-train rushing by you at its full speed is sublime - it deserves no timid epithet. You stand perhaps in the country, on one of those little bridges thrown over the line for the convenience of the farmer, who would else find his fields hopelessly bisected. A jet of steam is seen on the horizon, a whir of a thousand wheels grows louder and louder on the ear, and there rushes under your feet the very realization of Milton's dream, who saw the chariot of God, instinct with motion, self-impelled, thundering over the plains of heaven. You look round, and already in the distant landscape the triumphal train is bearing its beautiful standard of ever-rising clouds, white as the highest that rest stationary in the sky, and of exquisitely involved movement.
    "For an instant the whole country is animated as if by the stir of battle: when the spectacle has quite passed how inexpressibly flat and desolate and still, have our familiar fields become. Nothing seems to have a right to exist that can be so still and stationary." Smith continues, "Yet grand as this spectacle is, we revert with pleasure to some boyish recollections of the high road and to picturesque effects, produced by quite other means. We are transported in imagination to a bay window, that commanded the great western railroad - The Bath Road, as people at the time often called it. Every evening came, in rapid succession, the earth tingling with the musical thread of their horses, seven mail coaches out of London. The dark-red coach, the scarlet guard standing up in his solitary little dickey behind, the tramp of the horses - can one ever forget them? For some miles out of London, the guard was kept on his feet, blowing his horn, to warn all slower vehicles to make way for his Majesty's mails. There was a turnpike within sight of us; how the horses dashed through it! With not the least abatement of speed.
    "If some intolerable blunderer stopped the way, and that royal coachman had to draw up his team, making the splinter bars rattle together, we looked upon it as almost an act of high treason. If the owner of that blockading cart had been immediately led off to execution, we boys should have thought he had but his just deserts. Our mysterious seven were still more exciting to the imagination when, in the dark winter nights, only the two vivid lamps could be seen borne along by the trampling coursers. No darkness checked the speed of the mail; a London fog which brought ordinary vehicles to a standstill, could not altogether subdue our Royal mails.  The procession came flaring with torches, men shouting before it, and a man with a huge link at the head of each horse. It was a thrilling and a somewhat fearful scene." Smith, on reflection of what he had seen and witnessed, wrote, "The stream to the tree - I shine, you shade, and so the beauty of the world is made." And he penned the verse, "Rested or moved upon its brow, and lo, it softens into beauty now - Blooms like a flower. With us 'tis much the same, - from man to man, as the deep shadows roll, breaks forth the beauty of the human soul." (Taken from A Tourist's Notebook)

THE AUTHOR'S FINAL CHAPTER

    "I was quite alone with my love. I got on the bed behind him, the better to prop him in what seemed an easy sleep -the hands and feet still warm. His head passed gradually from the pillow to my breast and there the cherished head rested firmly; the breathing grew gentler and gentler," wrote Lucy Smith, while caring for her gravely ill husband, in the year 1872.
  She writes, "Never shall I forget the great awe, the brooding presence with which the room was filled. My heart leapt wildly with a new sensation, but it was not fear. Only it would have seemed profane to utter even my illimitable love, or to call upon his name. The head grew damp and very heavy; my arms were under him. Then the sleep grew quite quiet, and as the church clock began to strike ten, I caught a little, little sigh as a new-born infant might give in waking - not a tremor, not a thrill of the frame; and then Vi came back with Clara's nurse (who have a peculiar love and admiration for him, I said might come up). I told them he was gone, and I thanked God for the perfect peace in which he passed away. He was buried in the Brighton Cemetery, in a spot at present still secluded, and over which the larks sing joyously. There a plain grey granite headstone rises 'to his pure and cherished memory,' with just his name and two dates, and this one line, long associated with him in my mind, and which all who knew him have felt to be appropriate. 'His soul was like a star, and dwelt apart'."
    William Henry Smith once wrote, "There comes a time when neither fear nor hope are necessary to the pious man; but he loves righteousness for righteousness' sake, and love is all in all. It is not joy at escape from future perdition that he now feels; nor is it hope for some untold happiness in the future; it is a present rapture of piety, and resignation, and love - a present that fills eternity. It asks nothing, it fears nothing; it loves and it has no petition to make. God takes back His little child unto Himself - a little child that has no fear, and is all trust."
    I truly believe, if such a chance prevailed, William Smith might find our community here, in South Muskoka, to be an interesting, dynamic, and contenting place in which to live, and a friendly place to visit. If his ghost and William Dawson LeSueur's apparition, were found to be walking side by side, along our main street, one tuned to such things, might hear the two writers admit, to "nice place they've got here!" Of this then, we concur.
    William Dawson LeSueur intended the name "Gravenhurst" to be a tribute to our town, a good book, and a British author, William Smith, who he had considerable respect and admiration. This is the final line. I can't prove this further than I have, at present, and it is ultimately up to the people of our town, to one day feel the honor and provenance of our shared history with biography......entitling us to use his name proudly, and frequently, when we are asked........"Where did the name Gravenhurst come from?" It would be so nice, to this historian's ears, to hear someone speak up and say, "We were named after a great book and an accomplished author, William Henry Smith, and his book, 'Gravenhurst, or Thoughts on Good and Evil." And oh yes, we were named by a great historian, author, literary critic, by the name of William Dawson LeSueur, a federal civil servant with a little bit extra.
    Thanks so much for joining this blog-series commemorating the 150th anniversary of the naming of Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada. Please join me again soon

Who Was This William Henry Smith Anyway? Gravenhurst

WHO WAS THIS WILLIAM HENRY SMITH ANYWAY - AND WHY SHOULD WE CARE?

SHOULD WE BE PROUD OF OUR ASSOCIATION - OR TUCK IT AWAY WITH THE OTHER DUST OF AGES?

     TO VIEW THE MUSIC VIDEO, COMMEMORATING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NAMING OF THE FIRST POST OFFICE IN GRAVENHURST, YOU CAN CLICK ON THE BOX ABOVE. YOU MAY HAVE TO WAIT FOR IT TO LOAD BEFORE IT CAN BE VIEWED WITHOUT STOPPING.

     "HIS POEMS 'GUIDONE' AND 'SOLITUDE,' WERE PUBLISHED TOGETHER IN 1836, AND ABOUT THE SAME TIME HE REVIEWED BULWER AND LANDOR IN "THE QUARTERLY. IN 1839 HE PUBLISHED HIS 'DISCOURSE ON ETHICS OF THE SCHOOL OF PALEY,' WHICH, IN PROFESSOR FERRIER'S OPINION, 'WAS ONE OF THE BEST WRITTEN AND MOST INGENIOUSLY REASONED ATTACKS UPON CUDWORTH'S DOCTRINE THAT EVER APPEARED'. IN THE SAME YEAR HE BEGAN HIS CONNECTION WITH 'BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE,' CONTINUED TO NEARLY THE END OF HIS LIFE. HE CONTRIBUTED ALTOGETHER 126 ARTICLES ON THE MOST DIVERSE SUBJECTS, STORIES, POEMS, ESSAYS IN PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICS, BUT PRINCIPALLY REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS, ALL VALUABLE, AND ALL DISTINGUISHED BY ELEGANCE AND LUCIDITY OF STYLE."

     WILLIAM SMITH, WHILE WRITING FOR THE PUBLICATIONS SUCH AS THE "LITERARY GAZETTE," AND "ATHENAEUM," USED THE PEN NAME, "THE WOOL-GATHERER."
     YOU MIGHT ALSO WISH, AFTER READING THIS, TO LOOK UP THE TEXT OF "GRAVENHURST; OR THOUGHTS AND GOOD AND EVIL," ON GOOGLE BOOKS, WHERE IT HAS BE FULLY RE-PUBLISHED.    

     It might appear, from using this detailed, literarily complicated opening biography, first released in 'The Dictionary of National Biography,' published by the Oxford Press, that I'm actually trying to scare readers off. I'm pretty sure, this information won't stir the younger readers, and I can't imagine the hisses I'd get, if I had to present this to a high school history class. Those not hissing, would be snoring, or asking to go to the washroom.....repeatedly. It's a tough sell but then I've been doing this historical stuff since I was a kid.....so I've gotten used to people switching me off for self preservation; which does speak to my own rather boring existence mired in the archives of local history.
      I'm so positive about this particular story, and the connection we've never really made with William Henry Smith, that it's worth the risk, to keep plugging along, in this 150th anniversary month, of the official naming of the Town of Gravenhurst's first post office, by postal authority William Dawson LeSueur, after the title of the British author's book, "Gravenhurst; or Thoughts on Good and Evil." That date was August Ist, 1862, and one hundred and fifty years later, there is virtually no buzz, little interest, and no will to pursue much more knowledge than presently exists, about the historial and literary connection with old England. Well, that's never stopped me before. So here goes some more biographical information from the National Biography:
     "His novel 'Ernesto,' a story connected with the conspiracy of Fiesco, had appeared in 1835. It has considerable psychological but little narrative interest. Similar qualities and defects characterizes his tragedy of 'Athelwold,' (1842) although it was greatly admired by Mrs. Taylor, the Egeria of Stuart Mill, whose scrap of criticism is one of the very few utterances of hers that have found their way to print. Macready produced a curtailed version in 1843, and his and Helen Faucit's acting, procured it a successful first night; more was hardly to be anticipated. It was published in 1846 along with 'Sir William Crichton,' another tragedy,  and 'Guidone,' and 'Solitude.' From this time Smith lived chiefly at Keswick in the Lake District. In 1851, he unexpectedly received an offer from Professor Wilson to supply temporarily his place as professor of moral philosophy at Edinburg, but he was diffident, and had begun to write 'Thorndale,' and the tempting offer was declined. 'Thorndale; or the Conflict of Opinions,' was published in 1857, and, notwithstanding its length and occasional abstruseness, speedily gained acceptance with thoughtful readers. In the previous year he had become acquainted with his future wife, Lucy Caroline, daughter of George Cumming, M.D. whom he married at St. John's Church, Notting Hill, on the 5th of March, 1861," records the National Biography.
     "Gravenhurst; or Thoughts on Good and Evil,' was published the same year. It confirmed and extended the reputation acquired by 'Thorndale,' but Smith owes much more to his wife's beautiful and affectionate record of their married life, almost devoid of incident as it is. His health began to decline in 1869, and he died at Brighton on the 28th of March, 1872. Mrs. Smith survived until the 14th of December 1881. Apart from her memoir (which the Gravenhurst Archives possesses in its collection), her literary work had principally consisted of translations from the German, both in prose and verse.  Next after the biography, which has embalmed his name, Smith will chiefly be remembered by his philosophical dialogues, 'Thorndale,' and 'Gravenhurst'. The mutual relation of the books is indicated by the author himself, when he says that "Thorndale,' is a conflict of opinions, and 'Gravenhurst,' a harmony. No man was better qualified by inate candour and impartiality to balance conflicting opinions against each other, or by acuteness to exhibit the strong and weak points of all. The eclectic character of his mind aided the diffusion of the books; every one found much that commended itself to him, while less popular views were expressed with an urbanity which disarmed hostility, and the hesitation to draw definite conclusions was an additional attraction to a public weary of dogmatism. If these really charming compositions have become in a measure obsolete, the chief reason is the importation of physical science as an element in moral discussions, but their classic elegance will always secure them an honorable, if not influential place in the history of modern speculation.
     "Smith's dramatic gift was not inconsiderable; his personages are well individualised both in his dialogues and his dramas. Of the latter, 'Sir William Crichton,' a play of the story times of James II of Scotland, is the more effective. 'Athelwold,' is a clear immitation of the style of Sir Henry Taylor, and, like the latter's 'Edwin the Fair,' brings Dunstan upon the stage. Both plays are full of wisdom, beautifully expressed, but neither is very vital nor very real."
     "I call this somewhat irregular esssay on a very old subject by the name of the place in which it was written, because allusions to that place and its inhabitants, and some conversations with neighbouring friends, have crept into it," wrote William Henry Smith, in his book, "Gravenhurst; or Thoughts on Good and Evil," published in Edinburgh, originally in 1861. "One evening when returning from my walk through a village which, at least in these pages, bears the name of 'Gravenhurst,' I found myself meditating on the old problem of good and evil, and that apparently disproportionate amount of evil, which has often perplexed profoundest thinkers, and which has often startled into thought the most simple-hearted of men, when suffering themselves under any sharp calamity," wrote Smith of the community he used as the model for his study.
     "A visit paid to a poor woman in distress, and a conversation held with a dear friend who keeps alive in me the habit of philosophical discussion, had led my thoughts in this direction. It was the hour of sunset. As I paused upon the parapet of our little bridge, the distant Welsh hills were glowing in their purple splendour; the river ran gold at my feet; every branch of every graceful tree that hung silently in the air received and reflected a new beauty from that entire scene of enchantment, to which also it brought its own contribution. The whole which is formed itself of separate parts, gives to each part its meaning and charm,"
     More on the good Mr. Smith in tomorrow's blog. Please join me for another in the series of blog-chapters, recognizing the 150th anniversary of the naming of the Town of Gravenhurst, Ontario, on August Ist, 1862.
     To view the music video, celebrating this milestone, you can click onto it for a viewing, in the box at the beginning of today's blog.

Gravenhurst 150th

GRAVENHURST POST OFFICE BECAME OFFICIAL IN AUGUST 1862

THE HAMLET WAS NAMED AFTER A BOOK BY WILLIAM HENRY SMITH

     "SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY (1808-1872), philosopher, poet, and miscellaneous writer, son of Richard Smith, barrister-at-law, was born at North End, Hammersmith, in January 1808, of parents in easy circumstances. Theyre Townsend Smith was his brother. He was educated at Radley School, then a non-conformist institution, and afterwards at Glasgow University, where he made many valuable friends and imbibed the habits of thought which influenced his subsequent life. After his father's death in 1823, he was placed with Sharon Turner to study law, and served out his articles as a solicitor with excessive distaste. He was afterwards called to the bar, and went circuit for awhile, but obtained no practice. Having a small independence, he mainly led the life of a recluse man of letters, reading, thinking, writing, and enjoying the friendship of Mill, Maurice, and Sterling, (author philosophers of considerable acclaim) having assisted the latter two when they edited the 'Atheneum.' Caroline Fox notices his likeness to Maurice," which is a strikingly significant compliment, in fact. (The Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press)
     William Henry Smith turned his back on the legal profession, and became a well regarded and accomplished author, and this connects to us, today, in modern day Gravenhurst. His decision to quit law, in reality, and the passion he had to write, generated some years later, the book "Gravenhurst," in 1862, the same year our post office was officially named the same. It was no coincidence. Just provenance we knew very little about.







     THERE WERE NO BALLOONS SET FREE AS A BUNCH, INTO THE BLUE SKIES OVER GRAVENHURST. THERE WAS NO PARADE, NO FLY-OVER BY THE SNOWBIRDS, GUNFIRE IN CELEBRATION, OR A SINGLE NOTICE ANYWHERE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, THAT TODAY MARKED THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OFFICIAL NAMING OF THE TOWN OF GRAVENHURST.......MARKED BY THE OPENING OF THE FIRST POST OFFICE IN AUGUST 1862.
    BUT A FEW OF US DIDN'T FORGET, AND WE MADE A SPECIAL VIDEO THAT WE HAVE OFFERED THE TOWN FREE OF CHARGE, TO MARK THE HISTORIC MILESTONE OF WHICH WE ARE ENORMOUSLY PROUD AS HOMETOWNERS. I HAVE ALSO PLANNED A MULTI-BLOG SERIES TO FURTHER EXPLAIN OUR FASCINATING CONNECTION TO ONE OF BRITIAN'S WELL KNOWN AUTHORS, AND HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT, THANKS TO THE HANDIWORK OF POSTAL AUTHORITY, AND CANADIAN HISTORIAN, WILLIAM DAWSON LESUEUR. AS HISTORY GOES, OF THIS KIND OF THING, THE "GRAVENHURST" CONNECTION IS A DANDY, LARGELY BECAUSE OF ALL THE SCREW-UPS OVER THE DECADES, THAT HAVE KEPT US DISTANT, FROM KNOWING MORE ABOUT THE WRITER RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR NAME. I HOPE, AT THE VERY LEAST, THAT THIS SERIES OF ARTICLES, AND MUSIC VIDEO, WILL ESTABLISH ONCE AND FOR ALL, A SUITABLE ONLINE ARCHIVE, FOR RESEARCHERS AND HISTORIANS IN THE FUTURE......AND HELP THEM AVOID THE SAME MISTAKES THAT HAVE BEEN MADE OVER AND OVER FOR WELL MORE THAN A CENTURY.
     IN A DOCUMENT IN POSSESSION OF THE GRAVENHURST ARCHIVES COMMITTEE, AND ORIGINALLY SENT TO REGIONAL HISTORIAN, CECIL PORTER, FROM THE FEDERAL OFFICE OF CANADA POST, THERE IS CLEAR CONFIRMATION, OF THE CONNECTION BETWEEN POSTAL AUTHORITY, WILLIAM DAWSON LESUEUR AND BRITISH AUTHOR, WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, AS RELATES TO THE 1862 NAMING OF THE NEW POST OFFICE.
     THE LETTER DATED, THE 10TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1965, NOTES THE FOLLOWING, ABOUT THE NAMING AND OPENING OF THE POST OFFICE: "The Post Office records show that the Post Office at Gravenhurst, was originally opened under that name on the Ist of August, 1862. The original appointee to the Postmastership was James McCabe, whose term of office extended to December 1867, when he was succeeded by Peter Cockburn whose appointment was on the first of April, 1868, and who served until February 1873."
     The letter also informs Mr. Porter, one of the authors of the well known local history, "Light of Other Days," (working with the Centennial Committee), that "Records in Ottawa indicate that in 1905 an early settler wrote that the community prior to the establishment of the Post Office was called McCabe's Landing, and it will be noted that the original postmaster in 1862 had the surname McCabe. Records also show that W.D. LeSueur of the Post Office Department, acknowledged naming the area Gravenhurst and indicates he secured the name from the title of a book by William Smith, author of 'Thorndale'."
     In a November 1923 article, published in the Gravenhurst Banner, also provided by the Archives Committee, the following paragraph identifies the connection with William Henry Smith:
     "Mrs. J.A. Northey, of Toronto, who was a patient at 'Calydor' (Sanatorium) last winter, received a letter from a lady friend in Toronto, a member of a reading circle, who gives a new clue to the naming of Gravenhurst in the following paragraph from her letter. 'When I wrote the name Gravenhurst, I recollected something my uncle once told me about that place. For over forty years he was in the Post Office Department, at Ottawa, and for very many years he was secretary of the department, which is the next post to that of Deputy Post Master General. In the course of his work there, he had to name a great many post offices throughout Canada, mostly of course small hamlets just setting up an office; when it became necessary to find a name for one up in the northern districts, he called it 'Gravenhurst,' after the title of a book he happened to be reading at the time."
     Where the facts of the official naming become confusing, has a lot to do with Bracebridge officials and historians, who for whatever reason, began substituting Washington Irving's book, "Bracebridge Hall," into the last line of the paragraph above. Time and time again, LeSueur is accused of naming our town, based on a book he happened to be reading at the time. The same holds true, in fact, for Bracebridge, two year after the opening of the Gravenhurst Post Office. "He named the new post office after the name of a book he was reading at the time." This one line has frustrated me for the past fifteen years, because it makes assumptions, that LeSueur was both cavalier, and a postal clerk who read books while on the job. Consider what respected writer and historian, Redmond Thomas, gave as a speech, many years ago, to the male members of the Teachers' Federation of Muskoka, published in the local press.
     As to how the communities of Muskoka received their names, he writes about both Bracebridge and Gravenhurst, by suggesting, "(LeSueur) picked the names Bracebridge and Gravenhurst from two places mentioned in a book he had read, namely 'Bracebridge Hall,' by Washington Irving. In the reference book, "Places in Ontario," by Nick and Helma Mika, the following information is included about the naming of Gravenhurst: "The centre of this town, situated on the south end of Lake Muskoka, was variously known as McCabe's Landing, McCabe's Mill, and McCabe's Bay, after James (Micky) McCabe, the first settler here in 1859. It was given its present name in 1862 by William Dawson LeSueur (1840-1917), a secretary of the post office department, after a reference to Gravenhurst in Washington Irving's novel, "Bracebridge Hall (1822). William Smith's novel "Gravenhurst," (1862) is frequently cited as the source of the name, but LeSueur left a written record about how he chose it."
     In another article, provided by the Archives Committee, the following is noted of the naming of Gravenhurst: "Local historian, Claud Snider, has gone to considerable trouble in efforts to find who named the tiny village of Gravenhurst, but without success. However, he believes it was named after a small English town in Bedfordshire, England, during the first ten years of settlement."

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT - NO "BRACEBRIDGE HALL CONNECTION"

     Quite a number of entries have been made in Bracebridge histories, suggesting incorrectly, that Gravenhurst was the name LeSueur fished out of  American Author, Washington Irving's famous book, "Bracebridge Hall." I worked for months to disprove this was possible, and I purchased a copy of the book, and read it twice. I also asked several Irving authorities, in the United States, if the revered writer had ever used the name "Gravenhurst," in any of the books he wrote.....not just in the case of Bracebridge Hall. I even asked if there was any chance that Irving had visited the community of Gravenhurst, in England, while on his travels.
      First of all, Irving did not use the name "Gravenhurst" in the book "Bracebridge Hall." He didn't write the name in any of his other books either. There is no evidence he visited the village of Gravenhurst in England. I gave my copy of Bracebridge Hall to the Archives Committee, here in Gravenhurst, to read, in order to satisfy themselves, that there is no credit due the good Mr. Irving, at least for our name.
     Based on my firm belief, that our town was named after a book written by British Author, William Henry Smith, entitled "Gravenhurst; or Thoughts on Good and Evil," our family purchased a rare 1870's memorial edition of Smith's book, and presented it to the Gravenhurst Archives Committee, along with an Archives of Canada photograph of William Dawson LeSueur, and a copy of his biography, entitled "A Critical Spirit - The Thought of William Dawson LeSueur," by A.B. McKillop. The antiquarian copy of "Gravenhurst," was purchased from "Timothy B. Wilder, Rare Books, of Hubbardston, Maryland, in 1998. It was the 1875 edition, with a memorial biography of the author, as penned by his wife. He died in 1872.
     As a sidebar to this story, is the fact the packaged book was returned to sender, by the Gravenhurst Post Office.....Mr. Wilder receiving the book, because there was no postal code on the package. Even though my name and address was correct, postal policy indicated it had to be returned as undeliverable. I thought this was quite appropriate and a little amusing, considering all the mistruths, and information tangles, I'd been dealing with for severals years previous to this event.
    My intrusion in the naming debacle was not welcome by several Bracebridge historians, who thought it best to leave historical record as it had been intially written, including the clear error with their research; the name "Gravenhurst" was never used by Irving, as they had been claiming for decades if not longer.
    I even offered these same historians my copy of "Bracebridge Hall," to read, as they had not done so previously, but they opted to avoid the issue. I pointed out to them, and to any one else who would listen, back in the late 1990's, that it was unreasonable, for Mr. LeSueur, a scholar as well as a federal civil servant, to take a name from inside a book, when he could have used its title. This means, that because Gravenhurst was named two full years before Bracebridge was granted its post office, that LeSueur, would have named our post office "Bracebridge" instead, if their theory held water.......and used a name found in the text, to re-name "North Falls," which was the title of Bracebridge before LeSueur made his unsubstantiated change. You have to know the accomplishments and handiwork of Dr. LeSueur first, to understand he would not have done this, ever! I had a chat, quite a few years ago now, with one of a number of "North Falls" loyalists in Bracebridge, still offended all these years since, that LeSueur buried the name the citizens had selected. They were so concerned about this federal over-ruling of their choice, that they registered the name, to keep it from being lost by time. I'm not sure about the citizens of Gravenhurst, just how they felt then, and today, about having the name "McCabe's Landing" rejected by LeSueur, in favor of a title borrowed from a newly published book.
     As I've repeated about a thousand times, LeSueur was not just a civil servant. He was a respected historian and literary critic, known in Europe and North America, and he would have had access to most of the newly published books.      Smith's book was published in 1862, the same year the Post Office was given its name. As for the naming of "Bracebridge," he obviously admired the work of the author, enough to afford the name he imposed by authority, onto a fledlging Canadian hamlet, he thought would come to appreciate the literary provenance, of being related to one of the great authors in history. I think he would be disappointed it took about 150 years to raise significant interest amongst the citizenry. Just as a little footnote to this; my readership has tripled in the last few days, in part, related to this coming historical feature. (Of course, it could also be because of my Music on the Barge reviews)
     I will offer more information on Mr. Smith in an upcoming blog, but what is important to remember, is that William Dawson LeSueur, was in roughly the same enterprise as his colleague William Henry Smith; both writing reviews of philosophical texts, for magazines such as Blackwoods. I adamently believe, LeSueur was so impressed by Smith's book, that he borrowed the title, to name the hamlet on Muskoka Bay. The citizens then were miffed why LeSueur had discarded their choice of names, "McCabe's Landing," and gave them the strange name of "Gravenhurst." LeSeuer had an explanation but he kept it largely to himself, feeling the settlers in the encampment, wouldn't have understood the literary significance anyway. Admittedly, this was his failing, and even if the citizens didn't get the connection, they should have been offered an explanation none the less. As a result of his failure to communicate, why he had selected "Gravenhurst," as the name of the brand new Post Office, history and its keepers, have distorted the act many different ways, somewhat retarding the credit deserved to both gentleman.....LeSueur and Smith. Hopefully this has been corrected, if historians in the future, would research more diligently and thoroughly than in the past.
     In the coming days, I will present more background information about both Dr. LeSueur, and William Henry Smith, and why the 150th anniversary of the naming, deserves more public recognition than it has to date. If I hadn't decided to create this editorial series, and beg help from my videographer son, the 150th would have been missed (neglected) entirely. Make sure you click onto the music video, son Robert produced to commemorate the occasion of the century and a half anniversary. Much more to come.

(NOTE ABOUT THE VIDEO - I WANT TO THANK SON ROBERT FOR HAVING THE PATIENCE TO DEAL WITH HIS MEDDLING, ARGUMENTATIVE, INTRUSIVE, PAIN-IN-THE-ASS FATHER, TO MAKE THIS CONTEMPORARY MUSIC VIDEO, TO HIGHLIGHT THIS AUGUST IST ANNIVERSAY. HE'S A GOOD LAD! THE VIDEO AND THIS PROJECT, WERE DONE OUT OF RESPECT FOR OUR HOMETOWN, AND ALL THE FOLKS PAST AND PRESENT, WHO WORK SO HARD, TO MAKE IT A DYNAMIC, GOOD NEIGHBOR COMMUNITY.)


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