Saturday morning, after breakfast, Jane and I left Barrie for Arowhon Pines resort where I was registered to attend a writers retreat. Jane and the rest of the family had chipped in to get me this weekend retreat as an early birthday gift.
Arowhon is located inside Algonquin Park, Northeast of Huntsville. In fact, we decided to take a bit of an indirect route through that town in order to buy some snacks and coca cola. As we were driving into Huntsville, I spotted the old CN train station by the roadside. It is now a museum. I had worked there as a telegraph operator around 1968 so I was quite excited about having this unexpected opportunity to have a look around.
The exterior building footprint was the same, but the inside had been gutted. The baggage room was still there, though. That’s where I used to keep my motorcycle when I worked the night shift. Usually there were only two trains that I was responsible for during my shift – both passed by before 2AM after which time I would pile some canvas mail bags together in that baggage room to make a sort of bed on which to sleep. I was there for the whole summer and what a wonderful summer that was!
After we did our shopping, we continued our journey along Highway 60. I was on the lookout for a place called Grassmere, where my grandparents, Eddie and Maggie Pickering had been married 115 years ago on December 24, 1900.
We found it and stopped at a nearby church thinking it may have the spot where they got married. After looking at grave markers for awhile, we continued our trip.
I decided that, since there was no internet service in the park, to do a last check of emails. I was pleasantly surprised to see one from, Ian Hadden, who gave me some interesting information about my grandparents. Ian has been studying genealogy and was kind enough to take it upon himself to do some checking on my grandparents.
Soon we were at the turn-off for Arowhon and proceeded along a winding dirt road for about 3 miles until we reached the resort. It’s a very rustic place with buildings made of logs and roughly hewn lumber.
I am excited to be here.
Life Unfolding 