Natural Archives | Page 3 of 3 | "Are We There Yet?" Highway-Based Tourism In Kawartha Lakes

Relaxing at Falcon Lodge, Balsam Lake

Lakefront lodges appeared throughout northwestern Kawartha Lakes during the 1940s and 1950s. Most featured a main lodge house surrounded by several smaller cabins. The main house at Falcon […]

Kim Tuckett Remembers Falcon Lodge

Recorded at the Kirkfield Museum, February 12, 2022 Interviewer: Ian McKechnie Videography: Ekaterine Alexakis Duration: 2:51 Kim Tuckett sitting in front of white wall. Text on screen reads: […]

A Vintage Gas Pump Still Operates at the Balsam Lake Park Store

When Balsam Lake Provincial Park opened in 1967, Highway 46 was re-routed around the park. A Texaco gas station immediately west of the park boundary began serving customers […]

Homemade Baking In Rosedale: Alta Oliver and Her Famous Pies

Alta Oliver, whose husband operated a well-patronized service station in Rosedale, was famous for her homemade pies. Granddaughter Linda Oliver remembers: “Grandma baked pies and sold them to […]

A Feat of Engineering: A Steamboat Being Locked Through the Kirkfield Lift Locks, Trent Valley Canal

This hand-tinted postcard shows the Kirkfield Lift Lock as it appeared during its first decade of operation. Opened in 1907, it remains the second-highest hydraulic lift lock in […]

“Choo, Choo!” Sounding the Whistle in Coboconk

By the mid-1950s, railway passenger service had become little more than a tourist attraction. No. 2644, one of the Canadian National Railway’s N-4-a class of locomotives built in […]

“Is It Here Yet?” Anticipating Train Time in Kirkfield

The Kirkfield station was typical of those constructed by the Toronto & Nipissing Railway. It replaced an earlier building in 1892 and outlived the railway, serving as a […]

“All Aboard!” Canadian National Railway Mixed Train Heads Northeast out of Kirkfield

The Canadian National Railway’s “mixed train” to Coboconk, seen here at Kirkfield in 1951, carried both freight and passengers. A typical mixed train had gondola cars laden with […]

Driving North Along Highway 35 Near Cameron Lake

This picture – taken in August of 1940 and originally published in the Department of Highways Ontario (DHO) Official Road Bulletin, issued on July 10 1941 – captures […]

Vice-Admiral Henry Vansittart’s estate on Balsam Lake

Vice-Admiral Henry Vansittart (1779-1844) was possibly the first European to build a seasonal residence in what is now northwestern Kawartha Lakes. This drawing shows Balsam Lake and the […]