ALGONQUIN DEFINING MOMENTS

Episode 28: Don Lloyd,:Algonquin’s Renaissance Man - An Interview with grandson Mathew Thivierge

Episode 28: Don Lloyd, Algonquin's Renaissance Man - an Interview with grandson Mathew  Thivierge  

Don Lloyd, who died in 2013, is I think the closest that Algonquin Park has come, to creating a true Algonquin Park Renaissance man.   Don wasn’t just an Algonquin Park wildlife and landscape illustrator, he also turns out to have been also been a geography teacher, a receiver of a Bachelors, Masters and PhD in Geography, an author of two important Algonquin books, a board game designer, a children’s book creator as well as an avid Algonquin Park canoe tripper, birder, wood carver. He was a long time Canoe Lake leaseholder, Algonquin Park Residents Association activist and Friends of Algonquin Park board member in its early years. In 2011 he received their Director’s Award, which honors those who have made significant contributions toward the appreciation of Algonquin Park. In this episode I chat with his grandson Mathew Thivierge to share with you some of his recollections of his grandfather.

Musical interlude is called Campfire Light and is by Ian Tamblyn from his Superior: Spirit and  Light CD and can be found at www.iantamblyn.com

Episode 27: Algonquin Nature Interpretive Programs Rediscovered

Nature interpretation activities have been part of the Algonquin Park experience for a long time. In this episode, I’ll take you down memory lane and share with you the origins of what used to be called the Algonquin Park Interpretive Program, now called the Discovery Program, and introduce you to some of the incredible people who made it all possible.

Note that the sources for much of this content is my own research compiled for my book Treasuring Algonquin: Settlement Stories from 100 Years of Leaseholding.  as  well as  Roderick MacKay’s Algonquin Park: A Place Like No Other, George Warecki’s J.R. Dymond Scientific Research, Nature Reserves and the Interpretive Program in Algonquin Provincial Park 1931-1954 and several articles in The Best of The Raven, Algonquin Park’s Newsletters that have been published in 3 volumes by the Friends of Algonquin Park.  All of these are available from the Friend of Algonquin Park’s online bookstore at www.algonquinpark.on.ca.

This episode's musical interlude is provided with thanks from Ian Tamblyn at www. iantamblyn.com called Black Spruce by Ian Tamblyn.  It can be found on his 2007 album Superior Spirit and Light.

Episode 26: Wilderness Adventurers Part III

Episode 26: Wilderness Adventurers Part III

In this episode, I’ll be continuing my recollections of some of the wilderness  adventurers who settled  on leaseholds in Algonquin  Park in the early  20th Century. Here I'll be introducing you to a few more interesting characters who became the heart and soul for the leasehold community. 

Virtually all of the stories I share, come from two of my books Algonquin Voices; Settlement Stories of Canoe Lake Women, that won in 2002 the Alison Prentice Award for best women’s history that year by the Ontario Historical Society and Treasuring Algonquin, my 2006 book on the history of leaseholding in Algonquin Park.  

Once again the musical interlude is a composition written by Sarah Spring called  Old Friend. For more information about Sarah or if you’d like to listen to more of her work, learn more  about Sarah or buy her musical scores, check out her web site www.sarahspringpiano.ca

Episode 25: Interview with Wilderness Adventurer Sandy Lewis

Episode 25: Interview with Wilderness Adventurer Sandy Lewis

In the last episode I shared some of the origin stories of a few Algonquin Wilderness Adventurers whose ancestors, some as many as five generations back, were invited by the Ontario Government to lease small plots of land on a specific set of Algonquin Park lakes and build summer cabins.  In this episode I’m thrilled to be chatting with the patriarch of one such five-generation family Sandy Lewis. Sandy is the grandson of both Dr. Alexander Pirie and Thomas Bertram who were Algonquin’s first wilderness Adventurers. The two purchased in 1906, Allan and David Gilmour’s summer cabins and leased the land on the south-end of an island in the middle of Canoe Lake, just south of what is today’s Big Wapomeo Island. The sawmill that the Gilmour brothers owned that existed at the north end of Canoe Lake had gone bankrupt some years earlier and the cottages abandoned. Lewis shares not just his grandparents and parents experiences, but also his own as a young child, hanging out by himself in the woods.

Biographical references include my own 2002 book Algonquin Voices, Selected Stories of Canoe Lake Women and Gary Long and Randy Whitman’s 1998 book When Giants Fall – The Gilmour Quest for Algonquin Pine. 

This episode’s musical interlude is called Forever Unknown and comes from fellow Algonquin lover Sarah Spring. Sara is a composer, sound artist, pianist and music educator and her music can be found on www.saraspringpiano.ca

Episode 24: Early 20thC Wilderness Adventurers Part 1

Episode 24: Early 20thC Wilderness Adventurers Part 1:

In this episode I bring to share with you some of the stories of another  part of the Algonquin Park community - those whose ancestors – some, as many as five generations back, were invited by the Ontario Government to lease small plots of land on a specific set of lakes and build summer cabins. The belief then was that visitors wouldn't come unless there was a community of some sort to provide an anchor. 

Virtually all of these stories come from two of my books Algonquin Voices; Settlement Stories of Canoe Lake Women that won in 2003 the Alison Prentice Award for best women’s history that year by the Ontario Historical Society and Treasuring Algonquin, my 2006 book on the history of leaseholding in Algonquin Park.

The musical interlude again comes from the Wakami Wailers who can be found on www.wakamiwailers.com. It’s called Lonesome River and is from their 2017 Un, deux, Trois… Four Album. For pictures check out www.algonquinparkheritage.com.

Episode 23: Caretaking in the Bush - the Hamilton-Haskin Family Experience

Episode  23: Caretaking in the Bush - the Hamilton-Haskin Family Experience

In this final episode on the lives of full time Algonquin Park residents, I wanted to share with you stories that I’ve collected from the Hamilton-Haskin family from Madawaska. The family’s original matriarch and patriarch, Wilmot and Victoria Hamilton lived just outside the eastern boundary of Algonquin Park from 1897 to 1954 on the north shore of Victoria  Lake,14 kilometers from anything close to civilization. Not only did they survive, caretaking a hunting lodge owned by Edward Curtis Smith, a former governor of Vermont, but also raised a dozen children to adulthood. Though not technically part of Algonquin Park, and therefore, I suppose, not really a Algonquin Defining Moment, it’s close enough and their story is one of the best I’ve collected with incredible insight into what life was like in the early 20^th Century for these hearty Canadians.

Also joining me again are the Wakami Wailers with a song called ‘Take This Land”, from their 1993 album Waltz With the Woods. Their music can be found on www.wakamiwailers.com.

There  are also a great collection of photographs on my website www.algonquinparkheritage.com  and if you are interested in reading the full story of  Governor Smith  and his Ontario Retreat, you can find it at the Friends of Algonquin Park bookstores or online at www.amazon.ca or www.amazon.com.

Episode 22: Bring on the Fall Colours

Episode 22: Bring on the Fall Colours

In this episode I've shifted my focus a bit and have decided to concentrate on the most spectacular of Algonquin Defining Moments, ‘The Fall Colours', which are taking place as they do every year around this time.  First I’ll share some interesting facts about what the fall colour process is all about from a scientific perspective, then I talk about some interesting factoids about trees and lastly touch on what other things are going on in the fall that make Algonquin such a unique and interesting place this time of year. Several key  articles from the Friends of Algonquin Park's RAVEN newsletter include:  

• Heavenly Ecology Sept 1, 1976 Vole 17 No 12
• Algonquin in autumn – Behind the Signs Sept. 10, 1981 Vol. 22, No 12
• To Sleep the Impossible Sleep Sept 9, 1982 Vol. 23 No. 12
• Sex in the Leaves Sept 8, 1988 Vole 29 No 12
• The Last Colour is the Best Colour Sept 10, 1992 Vole #33 NO 12
• Is It the Nose that Knows? Aug 23, 2001   Vole 42 No 10
• Time to Put on the Sunscreen Sept 8 2004, Vole 45 #12

In addition are several paragraphs from The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben and some notes here and therefrom a website called the Harvard Forest.  

Musical interludes include the Wakami Whalers' version of Land of the Silver Birch from their 1993 Waltz With the Woods CD and a reprise of Ian Tamblyn’s Brush and Paddle from his 2015 CD Walking the Footsteps - Celebrating the Group of Seven.

Episode 21: More Stories of Algonquin Park Full Time Residents

Episode 21: More Stories of Algonquin Park Full Time Residents

In this episode I continue my sharing of stories that I have collected about the lives of Algonquin Park full time residents. First are stories about the The Dufonds and Dennison’s who farmed in the area before it became a provincial park. Then are some  amusing anecdotes from Robert Taylor about his grandfather William McCourt who was the station agent for Rock Lake Station from 1897 until well into the 1940s.   The adventures of Billie Baulke who lived as a care taker first for the Fleck’s of J. R. Booth’s railways fame and later was the anchor for Rock and Whtiefish Lake leaseholder residents are recounted Lastly are a few stories about Stuart Eady and his wife Beulah who resided on Rock Lake in the 40s and 50s. Eady was a park ranger and Beulah a key community member. 

Key sources for this episode come from Audrey Saunders The Algonquin Story, my own research for my book Rock Lake Station, S. Bernard Shaw’s Lake Opeongo and Rory MacKay’s Algonquin Park  - A Place Like No Other. Except for Shaw’s Lake Opeongo, all of these titles are available from the Friends of Algonquin Park in-person and online bookstores. www.algonquinpark.on.ca.

The  musical contribution  of Tom Thomson  and  the Seasons of Algonquin  is from the Wakami Wailers 2017 album  Un, Deux, Trois ...Four. The Wakami Wailers are a frequent visitor and entertainment at the annual Logger’s Day celebrations. To hear more of their songs from the Canadian landscapes check out www.wakamiwailers.com.

 

Episode 20: Living Alone in Algonquin - Gertrude Baskerville‘s Experience

Episode 20: Living Alone in Algonquin - Gertrude Baskerville‘s Experience

In the spring of 1941, Gertrude Baskerville set out from the Kitchener area with her ailing husband Ted and 16-year old son Ed to join her brother Charles and his family in establishing a new life on the shores of  South Tea Lake in Algonquin. Within a  year her husband had died from his injuries received in the trenches during WWI. Her son was immediately shipped overseas to fight in WWII and her brother had decided that a better opportunity lay for him and his family to move to British Columbia. Gertie, as she was called by everyone was totally alone.  Alas, Algonquin had captured  her heart and soul, so rather than return to Kitchener, she decided to stay and see if she could carve out a life for herself in the Algonquin wilderness.  This podcast is her story,  as recounted to me by her son Ed and his wife Marge in the late 1990s. It’s about the 35 years that Gertie lived alone in Algonquin  Park near the Smoke Creek Bridge making a living by renting out a few cabins and hooking rugs of Tom Thomson paintings that she sold to visitors who stopped by.   

Musical contribution is from the Wakami  Wailers a frequent visitor and entertainment at the annual Logger’s Day celebrations. To hear more of their songs of the Canadian landscape check out www.wakamiwailers.com

 

Episode 19: Tom Thomson as a Myth and Legend

Episode 19: Tom Thomson as a Myth and Legend

This is the last of a three-part series on the life, the body, and the legend of Canada’s artist icon Tom Thomson.  In this episode, I will focus on the mythology that that evolved around Thomson from the 1940s to today. Then, I’ll try to address the legend by assembling the thoughts on the subject by three great writers Roy MacGregor, Sherrill Grace, and Gregory Klages.  The idea is to try to understand why our imaginations and reinventions of who he was have become such a part of the Canadian national identity. Lastly, I’ll share, as a long-time Canoe Lake resident with a wink and a nudge, my ‘Inventing Thomson' contribution. In addition are a few more Thomson-related musical interludes from the talented Ian Tamblyn’s CD Walking in the Footsteps - Celebrating the Group of Seven. Don’t forget to check out his website at www.iantamblyn.com.