I have never seen the play The Iceman Cometh, and for readers who know that story, I was not that type of iceman. But the two summers I was a deliverer of the frozen refrigerant in the mid-1950s on Georgian Bay I wouldn’t have missed for anything. Originally, when the cottages were built at WahnuhkeContinue reading “The iceman”
Author Archives: ritchiewith
Captain Nickerson
A familiar name around Georgian Bay ports over a century ago was Nickerson. Capt. Charles J. Nickerson was one of them. His story might have been typical of how a young man of that period carved out his maritime career. He was featured in The Globe newspaper of Toronto’s series “Prominent Men of the GreatContinue reading “Captain Nickerson”
Gallery
‘Up The Shore’ by Juanita Rourke
That title may bring back memories to people in southeastern Georgian Bay. For decades it was a weekly column in the Midland Free Press and its summer hand-out The Georgian Tourist. In 1994 some of the columns were published in a book with the same title. Two more books of the Rourke family’s life andContinue reading “‘Up The Shore’ by Juanita Rourke”
The Lost World
There is a ledge on a rock cliff along the mainland shore east of the mouth of the Musquash River in southeastern Georgian Bay. In the early 1920s when summer populations were much less than now, a tiny shack appeared on that ledge. It was the fulfilment of a dream of several girls from cottagesContinue reading “The Lost World”
They loved their ships
Following the wreck of a sailing ship in Georgian Bay in 1891, the publication Marine Review commented on the depth of affection people in the marine world had for particular ships. The writer had been told by an old mariner: “For God’s sake don’t say the old boat went to pieces becasuse she was rotten.Continue reading “They loved their ships”
Pluck is all a man needs
Scattered settlers and early cottagers along the Georgian Bay shores relied upon small local steamboats for supplies and transportation during the navigation season. One of the year-round people was James Drummond, a widower who settled on a small mainland bay north of Honey Harbour in 1899. He built a frame cottage and two stone barnsContinue reading “Pluck is all a man needs”
A hardy homesteader
On the east side of Tomahawk Island is a narrow S-curve channel. In the days before power boats it must have been a peaceful, serene waterway protected from the winds and waves of the main channel on the west side of the island. A frequent user of it in the 1930s was an elderly manContinue reading “A hardy homesteader”
Beautiful Beausoleil
Today it’s a national park, the cornerstone of the Georgian Bay Islands National Park. But Beausoleil Island, just west of Honey Harbour, had a history of human activity before it became a park in 1930. It is unusual in its geography, as its 1,089 hectares span Georgian Bay’s two distinct geographic zones: the rugged, rockyContinue reading “Beautiful Beausoleil”
An old charmer
He talked like a really tough, old-school skipper. But when we met Capt. Don Keith in 1970 his mask slipped a bit revealing an old rascal with a sense of humour and a capacity for mischief. He’s been gone for many years now but I still remember him fondly though I didn’t know him well.Continue reading “An old charmer”
