In 1932, Hwy 7 was completed. That was also the same year opened their bakery in Arden.

These are just two of the many fascinating facts in a new booklet A Kennebec Timeline, compiled by Arden artisan Sarah Hale.

Hale put together a Kennebec timeline for last year’s Heritage Festival and then got the idea of printing that up, complete with pictures/illustration.

The 12-page booklet is something of a fundraiser for the Kennebec and District Historical Society and was available for the first time last Saturday as the KDHS held its open house.

“It’s history by the year, or as I like to call it ‘Kennebec history for the Twitter generation,” said Hale. “It’s $5 but that also gets you a membership and you get on my email list, so you can hear about meetings and get little text bits of history.”

Where else could you find out that there was a “brief and ultimate disappointing ‘gold rush’” in Kennebec in 1936 or that fire destroyed the Methodist Church in 1954 (there’s a United Church there now).

The Society even has some old newspaper clippings about the gold rush.

The Society is “gradually developing a file of family histories,” Hale said. “We also have quite a few scrapbooks we’ve put together and an archive of phots and stories.”

They’re also open to donations of just about any sort, like photos and uniforms of the old Arden Centennial Ball Club.

“The people who bought Vera Steele’s house brought those in,” she said. “They were in a bag in the attic.

“Amos Hughes was the coach.”

And they have several other projects in the works like Malcolm Sampson’s book about the names on the Arden Cenotaph.

And then there’s Reg Peterson, Arden’s own ‘tool man.’

“We’re always looking for donations, we don’t turn anything down,” Peterson said while proudly displaying the collection of old nails and a corn planter. “If we can get something with a story behind it, that’s what we’re really after.”

And Peterson knows his stories too. For example, he’s one of the few people around who knows how Bordenwood got its name.

“Frank Peterson was injured in an accident and lost a leg,” he said. “He wanted to start a post office in the area but was told it had to be in a village or settlement.

“Robert Borden was the Prime Minister at the time so they named the place after him and got the post office.

“It ran for 44 years and then it closed.”

Feature article, July 7, 2005

Feature article July 7, 2005

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Levelling the Waters

by Gray Merriam

All water is not level. Paddlers on fast, steep rivers commonly see the water sloping away downstream. All flowing water is lower at one end -- the oceans -- than at the other. Many of us are 500 feet or more above sea level.

Long shallow lakes can have the water surface much higher at one end than at the other end --particularly when the wind creates an 'internal seiche' -- an oscillation of water from end to end over hours or days. In Lake Erie, one end can be more than a metre higher than the other. Onshore wind can also pile water much higher on one shore than on the other.

But when lakeside or riverside dwellers speak of "levelling out the water", that's not what they are talking about. They are talking about keeping the water at one fixed level for most of the year -- at least during the times when they want to put in their dock and their pontoon boat.

Before control structures (dams), water levels varied a lot. The Ottawa River at Ottawa, in spring, increased to six times its autumn flow rate before humans put dams on all its tributaries. After we controlled the Ottawa, it fluctuated less than half as much.

Variation in water levels is increasing now that climatic forces are becoming much more variable. Although it is difficult to predict exactly where climate changes will be felt, or the exact degree of change, there is widespread agreement that climatic variation is increasing. The relative constancy of the climate of the last several decades is being replaced by unpredictable and large variations in many natural forces. Distribution of rainfall, both in time and in space, is one of those increasing variables. How many multi-inch one-day rain storms can you remember in the last year? April, September, June --. How many were extreme in one region and insignificant not far away?

When one of those multi-inch-in-one-day rains hits the watershed that drains into your lake, you will likely notice and, if not prepared, be inconvenienced. For example, Kennebec Lake, north of Highway 7 has a watershed of about 66,560 acres. The surface of the lake itself is about 1216 acres. For every one inch of rain falling on that watershed, if it all flowed quickly into Kennebec Lake, the surface of the water would rise over 55 inches -- over 4.5 feet.

The salvation is that the watersheds of many lakes are still well vegetated and not much is covered by impermeable roofs and driveways. A lot of the rainfall soaks into the ground or is soaked up by the living and dead vegetation. In addition, there still are many wetlands that catch rainfall that is running off and hold the water like the cells of a giant sponge. Water retained by a lake's watershed is released slowly, often over several months, and that prevents any cresting of the flow into the lake. In the case of Kennebec Lake, The Kennebec Wetland Complex is just such an area of many wetlands that acts as a water-storage mechanism for the landscape and the lake downstream.

But there are a lot of bare rock areas, and roads with graded ditches to hurry the runoff and a significant fraction of each rainfall does flow off each watershed and into each lake. More, if the lake-dwellers don't care for their lake's watershed. For example, in late June, 4 inches of rain fell on Kennebec Lake. A shore-dweller reported that the lake level rose 14 inches. Assume that the whole watershed received the same amount of rain. If all that water ran off into the lake within a few hours, the lake surface would have risen 219 inches, not 14. In fact, only 6.7 percent of the rain falling on the watershed ran quickly into the lake to raise the water level.

High water levels and accompanying high flow rates are the power behind some important natural processes. Spates of high water carry nutrient-rich silts onto flooded areas, fertilizing them and supporting exceptional productivity of shoreline areas. Where high water flows over underwater ledges or obstacles, the current is directed downward resulting in upwelling of nutrients from the bottom into the top-water. Resultant high productivity enriches both the upwelling site and areas downstream. When the dam was built on the Manicouagan creating the big horseshoe-shaped reservoir in the Manic crater on Quebec's north shore, upwelling where the Manic poured into the St. Lawrence was stopped. Instead of periodic highwater crests only steady flows came down the river. What had been a favourite feeding ground for Beluga calves in that upwelling area stopped providing rich food for the calves and they gathered there no longer. Fluctuating water levels are natural and important to some ecological processes, even if they inconvenience some humans and some nesting loons.

What about unvarying water levels that permit docks to be set at one height and never adjusted and permit carefree docking of giant pontoon boats at those fixed docks. Constant water level is unnatural. It is an amenity for shoreline dwellers. But that amenity has the cost of damage to natural processes.

Some of our watersheds, such as the Mississippi have hardly any lakes that are not levelled by dams. Lakes without dams are special and should be highly valued. Certainly more highly valued than some lakes whose depth and surface area and shoreline (and mudflats) are all controlled by edicts from afar or by local disputes.

Feature Article - January 26, 2006

Feature Article

January 26, 2006

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Central Frontenac Council embraces LakePlanning:January 24, 2006

by Jeff Green

There was a time, in the not too distant past, when township councils viewed Lake Planning initiatives by property owners’ associations with suspicion, on the assumption that they were designed to curtail any attempts to develop waterfront properties.

That time has passed in Central Frontenac. This week, Central Frontenac Council warmly received a presentation by the Kennebec Lake Property Owners’ Association concerning the comprehensive Lake Management plan they have undertaken in partnership with Quinte Conservation. Council talked about promoting the plan as a template for plans on all other lakes in the township. The Kennebec Lake Association will be bringing their perspective to the review of the township’s Official Plan that is taking place this year.

Terry Murphy, the General Manager of Quinte Conservation, said that Quinte Conservation has “an overall goal to develop a watershed management plan, but we don’t have the staff to do it. Working with volunteers who have expertise, we can co-ordinate and receive good data. We don’t always do studies to prove there is something wrong. Mostly we are finding that things are good, and we can learn what has to be done to keep them that way.”

The agreement between Quinte Conservation and the Kennebec Association stipulates that Quinte will provide expertise and training to ensure the quality of the data the Kennebec volunteers will produce. In return, Quinte will receive invaluable data.

So far, volunteers have studied 80 properties in the vicinity of Kennebec Lake, for soil erosion, shoreline degradation, water quality, etc. They have also generated an etiquette brochure which is available locally in Arden.

The planning process the Kennebec Association has undertaken is extensive, and it is designed to determine appropriate development opportunities for the lake.

Council received the report from the Kennebec Lake Property Owners’ Association and expressed their support for the Lake Planning initiative.

Sustainable Communities Resource Centre The Sharbot Lake Tire house is one step closer to reality. Council has approved a zoning amendment for the 1.16 acre lot on Road 38 where a proposed Sustainable Communities Resource Centre is planned. The building, which is to house office and demonstration space, and possibly a small caf is designed as a demonstration site for alternative building, heating, and waste disposal techniques. It is to be built using a combination of straw bale and reclaimed material (used tires) construction.

There were four conditions attached to the approved zoning change: A professional site plan must be developed, the sewage system must be approved by the Health Unit, certain landscaping must be completed, and provisions for a 15 car parking lot, off Road 38, must be made.

Public meeting Waste Disposal fees A public meeting will be held on February 27, 7 pm at Oso Hall to discuss whether to change or keep the fee structure for dumping garbage. Currently Central Frontenac charges one dollar for a bag tag.

Final building stats for 2005 Construction values for 2005 were a shade under $8 million ($7,943,000). This compared to $6,038,000 in 2004, and $4,656,000 in 2003. Forty-nine new residential units were started in 2005, compared to 45 in 2004, and 27 in 2003.

More on roads Councillor Murray initiated a further discussion on winter road maintenance in the wake of further ice storm events since the previous Council meeting. Murray insists that the Public Work Department needs to address how it operates during winter storms. Mayor MacDonald mounted a spirited defence of the road crew and their procedures, blaming road problems on bad weather. The exchange became heated at times.

Feature Article - June 29, 2006

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Feature Article - June 29, 2006

Seniors of the Year inCentralFrontenac

by JeffGreen

At a luncheon ceremony after their final council meeting before Canada Day, Central Frontenac has developed a custom of celebrating volunteerism by honouring seniors from each district who have made a special contribution to the community.

This year, the four honourees were: John Lee, Rosemary and Peter Wadham, Velma Price, and the late Moe Bush.

JohnLee John Lee (Oso) made his reputation as a community minded individual when he was a businessman in Sharbot Lake . As the owner of the Stedman’s and grocery stores, he was the first person people went to for supporting community causes and he never failed to help out in any way he could.

Since his retirement, he has, along with his wife Erlene, maintained a hectic pace, setting up the Alert System, driving for Meals on Wheels, helping to sort mail at the post office, and being active with the Anglican Church.

“I thank you all for this award, even though I didn’t expect it. I would like to share this with Erlene, because we do everything together,” John Lee said in accepting his award.

Peter and Rosemary Wadham

When Rosemary and Peter Wadham (Kennebec), moved to Kennebec Lake , Rosemary wondered how she would be able to stay busy in a small community. She needn’t have worried. She has been a member of the Arden Glee Club since its inception, is on the Kennebec Recreation Committee and on the Executive of the Arden Seniors, and is the prime mover behind the weekly line dancing at the Kennebec Hall. Peter does publicity work for most of these groups, and as the resident computer expert, provides background support as well.

“I feel that you get out of a community what you put into it, and I’ve gotten so much more out of this community than I could ever put in,” said Rosemary Wadham in accepting the award.

“I feel that Rosemary has done all the work,” said Peter, “all I do is play with the computer.”

Velma Price Velma Price (Olden) was a kind of surrogate mother for all the children who attended Land o’ Lakes Public School for many years, before retiring as school secretary two years ago. She also served as Clerk Treasurer for Olden Township and trained people in First Aid for many years. She was superintendent of the Sunday school at the Mountain Grove United Church , and made sure that all of the kids who played baseball in Mountain Grove got to and from their games.

“I’m happy to receive this award, even though I never expected it,” she said, “and happy that my daughter has come today from Oshawa to share this with me.”

Moe Bush’s husband John and son Wayne accepted the Hinchinbrooke award in her name. Moe was a force in Hinchinbrooke and throughout the region, through her work as the President of the Parham Happy Travellers, organizing seniors’ rallies, and earlier as a volunteer and employee at North Frontenac Community Services, and as editor of the North Frontenac News.

John andWayne Bush

Moe was also the first ever woman councillor to be elected to Hinchinbrooke Council, running under the slogan, “Get Hinchinbrooke on the go, vote for Moe.”

In accepting the award in her stead (Moe Bush passed away suddenly this past March at the age of 68) her husband John expressed the sentiment that was shared by everyone in attendance, saying, “I thank you for this. I wish Moe would have been able to accept it herself, she would have enjoyed this.”

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Feature Article - August 17, 2006

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Feature Article - August 17, 2006

Official Plan wording makes CFCouncil nervous

by Jeff Green

Two little words, “initiate” and “will” attracted most of the commentary when planning consultant Glenn Tunnock presented the draft amendments to the township’s Official Plan, which have resulted from an Official Plan review process that has been ongoing this year.

Both of these words occur in the draft amendment in reference to lake management plans. At one point, the draft amendment states “It is the intent of Council to initiate the preparation of lake management plans in partnership with stakeholder groups”, and elsewhere the amendment states, “Lake Management Plans will be prepared as a partnership initiative with preference on lakes and rivers experiencing development pressures.”

“Initiate lake management plans?” said a surprised Mayor Bill MacDonald.

Lake management plans have become popular throughout the region in recent years. In Central Frontenac, the Kennebec Lake Association is in the midst of preparing a comprehensive plan that includes a lake capacity study, an inventory of existing development and its impact, a resource inventory, an assessment of fish habitat, and more. The Kennebec study is, in some ways, a model for the type of studies recommended by Tunnock. The township is supportive of the Kennebec plan, and when it is completed it is expected to influence council decisions on future development on or around Kennebec Lake .

The Kennebec Lake plan, however, was wholly initiated by the Kennebec Lake Association, and the township has not been asked to fund it.

“I know how valuable these plans are, but I would like to put in a word of caution. It might be more than the township can handle, both in staff time and expense, to initiate plans like this,” said MacDonald.

“I don’t think I like the word “will” in regard to lake management plans,” said Deputy Mayor Frances Smith.

“What I suggest here is that council take the bull by the horns and ensure that lake management plans are developed, because lakes and their shorelines are our major assets,” replied Glenn Tunnock.

“You have to remember that lake management plans extend out to the entire sub-watershed in the case of Kennebec Lake , that includes all of Kennebec district north of Highway 7. For Sharbot Lake it would mean about half of Oso district and a huge part of Olden as well,” MacDonald said.

“This is your document,” Tunnock concluded, “You can massage the wording.”

Other changes called for in the draft amendment include further limitations on the development of private roads, and the establishment of a septic re-inspection program in the township (septic re-inspection programs are underway in North and South Frontenac and Tay Valley Townships)

A public meeting on the document will be held on Saturday, September 23rd at the Olden Hall in Mountain Grove at 10:00 am.

The Official Plan Amendment is available online at http://www.centralfrontenac.com/yc/township/council/agenda/scan1907.pdf/view.

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Feature Article - April 26, 2007

Letters to the Editor

History on Pine Lake

I own a cottage on Pine Lake, which my husband, my kids and I share with my parents and my brother.

I have been coming to Pine Lake all my life. My father, Frank, has been coming all his life. It's this way because my great grandfather James Derue built this cottage in 1950 and it's been in my family ever since. In fact, it was the first one built on the lake.

At that time, my great grandfather was the local entrepreneur in Ardoch. He and his wife, Elsie, owned and operated the general store and the saw mill. They opened and managed the Pine Lake cottages and trailer park. Even though that was in the 1950s, people still remember and talk about them today.

Last summer a group of people clear cut two pieces of land at Pine Lake -- one beside my cottage and the other across the road. Three weeks ago they drilled a well. They say they are planning to build an office building, a community centre, a parking lot and Pow wow grounds to accommodate 1700 people. They even speak of one day building a seniors home.

I am told by the Ministry of Natural Resources that this group does not legally own this land, that they have not obtained a building permit nor have they conducted an environmental assessment that has been approved by the province to ensure that environmental and safety concerns are addressed. Apparently they have hired someone to do their own assessment, which is not the same thing.

Frankly, I am confused. Why do we have a building code and environmental assessment regulations? Are they meaningless or optional? How can a group of people not abide by our laws and then justify their actions by saying they have history here?

I have history here. I also do my best to follow the laws of our country because I want to live in peace with my neighbours. All I ask is that my neighbours do the same.

Janette Derue-Lane

Re: Ontario Roadsides -

Recently when my grandson Mason Lowery and I were walking along a stretch of Hwy.41 and saw the mess on the roadside, we decided to do some cleanup. It is most frustrating when you see what people toss out the window as they pass by. This ATV trailer full of garbage is some indication of the magnitude of things left on our roadsides.

It took just one-half kilometer to fill this trailer. I think it’s deplorable the way we treat rural Ontario roadsides. I believe we live in the greatest province in this country - why do we not have the good sense to take care of it? It might be tradition to live with rough surfaces, but at least we can attempt to keep the roadsides clean. Maybe if we did our part in keeping Ontario clean, we might encourage the provincial and municipal road departments into helping out with the roads in their jurisdictions. It would sure be nice to see our roadside grass mowing being carried out again as it once was, and the brush cut -- not only to keep it looking nice, but also consider the safety factor for drivers and their families using these roads. Wildlife can be in front of you too easily with the vegetation growing along some portions of our roadsides.

For what it’s worth, last year my wife and I drove to Alaska, across Canada and back through the USA, some 23,000 kms. And I must tell you, as much as I love Ontario, it was most depressing when we came back and looked at the roadsides in Ontario compared to what we had become accustomed to seeing.

I say to you, if we all pull together and do our part, we can make Ontario roadsides second to none and something we can all be proud of.

- Larry Hartin

Dear Editor

Mayor Gutowski must have been a figure skater in a previous life. That was an impressive display of gliding around in circles to set up for the big spin that she performed in her letter that was published here last week. Since creative thinking seems to be in short supply on Central Frontenac council (and let’s not forget that the current mayor and three of the councillors were part of the previous council), here’s a plan that will mitigate the ridiculous mess that they have created. Move the Kennebec road crew and their equipment back to the Arden municipal garage. Move the Olden Fire Dept. into the new four-bay extension recently built onto the Olden municipal garage to house the Kennebec equipment. Take the $465,000 slated for the new fire truck garage in Mountain Grove, add to it the $118,000 that Bill Snyder is so desperate to spend hard topping his favourite side road and there will be plenty to spend on salt domes for Arden and Olden ($240,000 each - Frontenac News, May 25/06) with enough left over to build a nice lounge for the Olden fire crew. Or the $15,000 shortfall can simply be made up by the decreased operating costs that not driving the Kennebec equipment back and forth on the highway all day will provide. That way Mr. Snyder’s neighbours can have their pavement. . . but no lounge for Olden. I wonder if they’ll pave my road too if I keep complaining.

The facilities at the new Sharbot Lake fire truck garage along with the empty municipal garage beside it (the stupidity of that should live forever) and surrounding empty township yard should be plenty to service any of the training seminars Mayor Gutowski lauded, although you have to wonder how many generations will go by before any revenue generated will be worth bragging about.

-Patrick Maloney

Re: “Consolidate rural schools”

I read with dismay the front-page story on the proposal to close and "consolidate" our rural schools. Here is yet another Mississauga"consultant" beingpaid by our tax dollars to recommend the further evisceration of our communities.

With oil and gas prices skyrocketing,supplies dwindling, and global climate change transforming everything around us, further centralization is the last thing anyone but an ostrich should be contemplating.

What on earthcan they be thinking?

In his book, "The Long Emergency", James Howard Kunstler describes North American society as "sleepwalking into the future". If the Limestone Schoolboardshows any sign of taking seriouslythe Mississauga proposalsto close our few remaining small rural schools, we the people should give them a sharp awakening.

Helen Forsey

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Feature Article - March 27, 2008

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Feature Article - March 27, 2008 Kennebec Historical Societycomes out By Jeff Green

A group of Kennebec residents have been meeting monthly since last summer to discuss the formation of a local historical society. They have been sharing stories, and exploring how to accomplish the goal of preserving and sharing the history of the area.

“We’ve got an enthusiastic group of volunteers who have already begun to gather materials: pictures, letters, etc. and we are looking for a location for materials,” said Sarah Hale, of Arden Batik, a representative of the group who appeared before Central Frontenac Council earlier this week.

The group had a location in mind. There is a storage room in the Kennebec Hall that holds some township records but is otherwise empty, and according to a letter sent to council, “would enable the group to begin what it feels is the valuable task in preserving the heritage of our area.”

John Purdon, Olden councilor, asked Sarah Hale if she had thought of the possibility of a Central Frontenac Heritage Society since there already is an Oso historical society and a railway museum committee.

“To my mind there is something about local history, specifically for towns that have disappeared,” Hale replied, “if there is a Central Frontenac Society as an umbrella group we would certainly welcome that.”

As to the question of how the township could deal with their own material if the space were to be made available to the Kennebec group, interim Chief Administrative Officer John Duchene said that some of the material might no longer be required and could be destroyed and it would be possible to move the rest of the material to township buildings in Mountain Grove, where there is quite a bit of space available. Among the items still in the hall, which used to include the township office for Kennebec Township, is the Kennebec office vault.

“That leaves us with the question of the fee. I would suggest $10 per year, just to make thing legal, “ said Oso Councillor Frances Smith.

“I think this will give a big boost to the group. We’ve purchased a recorder, and we will be getting out and talking to people and recording their recollections,” said Sarah Hale.

Council passed a motion approving the formation of the Kennebec Historical Society and also agreed to lease space in the Kennebec Hall for $10 a year.

Feature Article - July 17, 2008

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Feature Article - July 17, 2008 What is Rural Life? Part 1

This is the first article in our summer seriesabout the idea of “rural” as it applies to our region. To kick off the series, we talked to Gray Merriam.

by Jeff Green

Gray Merriam lives just north of Arden at the foot of Kennebec Lake, at the headwaters of the Salmon River, which drains into the Bay of Quinte at Shannonville.

With his wife Aileen, Gray has been a full-time resident since he retired from Carleton University in 1997.

During his distinguished academic career, he was one of a group of people who developed the concept of landscape ecology, and he ran the first landscape ecology laboratory in Canada.

Broadly speaking, landscape ecology looks at ecological systems from a wider perspective. Instead of looking only at trees, it looks at the forest. Instead of looking only at lakes, it looks at watersheds.

Gray was also the chair of the Department of Biology at Carleton. Since 1997, he has been active locally, putting his background into practice. He was the founder of the Friends of the Salmon River and has been very active with the Frontenac Stewardship Council, of which he is the current chair.

We started our conversation by talking about the history of Frontenac County and the former Kennebec Township, in terms of the impact of the landscape on the lives of the people who have settled there in the past 150 years.

Gray Merriam looks at Frontenac County as two distinct geological regions: the fractured Limestone region to the south, and the Canadian Shield region to the north. The pattern of settlement in the north was set up as a mirror of what had been successful in the south, but things didn’t quite work out as planned.

“Settlers were brought into what they thought was going to be a very profitable area. They dumped people off in the fall and they had to survive until spring. A government scout put a shovel in the ground and it looked pretty good. He might not even have been aware that there is no dirt north of Verona,” Merriam said about the land granting programs of the late 19th Century in the area that came to be known as North Frontenac in the 1970s - what is now Central and North Frontenac, as well as Bedford District and parts of Portland District in South Frontenac.

This geological reality had an impact on the way Frontenac County communities developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when agriculture was the mainstay of the rural economy.

In the book “The Salmon River Watershed – Jewel of Eastern Ontario”, census figures are quoted to demonstrate how difficult scratching out a living by farming on the Canadian Shield can be.

“The 1861 Census showed just under 2,000 people in the Frontenac townships within the Salmon River Watershed (Kennebec, Olden, and Oso) of whom 70% called themselves farmers. They meant subsistence farmers: less than 2863 hectares (7,000 acres) were farmed in these townships and over 12,441 hectares (70,000 acres) were ‘wooden and wildland’. By 1961 the total population of the three townships was only 1545 and only 10% to 50% of the occupied land was being farmed, mostly as pasture. In the L&A townships of Kaladar and Anglesea, just over 1200 watershed residents were cultivating only 594 hectres - (1467 acres) of cropland in 1861. By 1901 the population had dropped to 1,000 and it stood at less than 1,300 in 1961. Here too, little of the occupied land was being farmed – less than 30%”

Another factor was logging.

“People were given the logging rights to entire townships and more. The greatest local example, certainly in Kennebec and Lennox and Addington, was the Rathburn family.”

Hugo Burghardt Rathburn and his son Edward logged the Salmon and Napanee valleys and all of the Depot Lake area. Although most of their timber was floated down to be milled in Deseronto, they also fed three mills in Arden.

At one point the Rathburns employed 5,000 people in their expansive enterprises. Among these was a 2,800 acre farm near Hungry Lake, north of Kennebec Lake.

But the kind of farming that a lumbering company would have engaged in, and the subsistence farming of the settlers, would have been completely different.

“There is a great difference in how a farmer relates to their land and the way a lumber company would have related to the land. Farmers had to learn how to farm the land. Other groups were paying no attention to the land itself; they were all about taking resources off the land, and once the resources were gone, they left.”

But they did not leave the land as they had found it.

“In 1932 Clint Barnett painted a view across the Kennebec Lake bridge,” Gray Merriam recalls, “and it provides a example of the landscape impacts of logging. In the painting, the hills were entirely grass covered. Where there were big, bald grassy hills then, is now all forest. But the forest there now is not the same as the forest that was removed when the land was cleared. It probably also moved some soil from high to low ground.”

The logging in this region virtually eliminated the Red Pine, which was abundant at one time.

In addition to logging, mining was also important, and in some cases the location of mines determined the location of railway lines. One railline that went through Tichborne was sited especially to bring out the feldspar.

The use of the region for recreational purposes has developed as the mining, logging, and farming has waned, and this has led to what is now the major economic engine for much of Frontenac County: seasonal residences.

“In the 1920s when people started to arrive by train from Toronto and build cottages, it introduced a whole new land use. Their way of looking at the land was entirely different, looking at the land as a recreational resouce raher than as something that they would make a living from. This kind of land use is dependent on good quality water in the rivers and in the lakes, as fishing was something that brought them there. A different set of attitudes began to develop, and it has spread since then,” said Gray Merriam.

In recent years, the local poltical landscape has changed. Provincial regulations have put a focus on water quality, the provincial policy statement has had an effect on lot sizes and setbacks on lakes, and lake associations have been developing lake plans.

“Over the past 15 years, these concerns have been brought front and centre to municipal councils, and the makeup of councils has changed as well,” Merriam said, “with retirees who have moved to the area, often living on water, taking on more of a role.”

Looking to the future Merriam thinks it is time for innovation.

“Our future will be determined by how we use our resources, just as it always has. Toronto is expected to grow by 4 million people in the next 20 years. Where are those people going to go to get away from the city, when they decide to retire?”

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Photo: Irene Monds and Linda Godfrey

On September 12, 2009, a long-time dream of mine was realized when 80 people gathered for a Godfrey family reunion at the Arden Legion.

I started researching my family’s genealogy to pass the time while awaiting surgery. Through the internet, I connected with others who were also searching and someone sent me an old newspaper clipping of Herbert Godfrey and Herbert Bell beside the grave of my great-great grandfather, John J. Godfrey, on the old Godfrey homestead. 

My brother Robert, his family and I, along with our cousin Marjorie Godfrey Burton, made our first trip to Arden in July 2007 but did not find the stone. However, I did find out that Mr. and Mrs. Monds owned the property that John J. Godfrey and Eliza Boomhower once owned. The farm is on the east side of Arden Road, across from Bill Pringle's home, which is the old homestead of Peter Mosier (1816) and Mary Boomhower (1821). It has been said that wherever the Godfreys went, the Mosiers went too. 

I then decided to organize a reunion, which was held on September 12. We discovered that all the Godfreys could not only cook well, they also like to eat, and we had enough food to feed an army. The matriarch of the family is Isobella Godfrey Tice, 83, who is the daughter of Ashley and Mary Godfrey, and loves music and dancing! The reunion was the most amazing and moving experience in my life.

Some of the group drove to the Monds’ residence and they were so gracious in letting us roam the property. We found the original icehouse, root cellar, and old barn. Mrs. Monds enlightened us about the farm and the people of Arden, and her husband Earl told us where we would find the grave of our great-great grandfather. The next day we returned and found the stone, on which is written: John J. Godfrey, died Nov. 30, 1878, age 57 yrs. A loving friend, a father dear/a tender parent lieth here/Great is the loss we here sustain.

Bill Pringle said he used to play there as a boy and that there was another stone beside it. We didn’t find the second stone, but will return in two years to look for it. I know that Mary Belanger, John Godfrey, Philip Godfrey Sr., James John Godfrey and perhaps Eliza are also buried there and I would like to do something about preserving the cemetery.

In my research I found a memoir written by Ruby Brown of the Heath clan in Arden, which states that Arden is a "little bit of heaven on earth". I call it Mystical Arden, and it truly is "heaven on earth". The stars in the sky glisten and pristine lakes abound. Many family roots come from this tiny town and it seems to have a special place within their hearts as well as mine.

As I gazed out over Kennebec Lake, I thought of how much my family wanted to go back to Arden. They often spoke of Ole Kennebec and their memories. My aunt used to tell of horse-drawn sleigh rides on the cold winter nights. They would be home playing cards and they could hear the sleds racing by and they could tell by the bells who was winning.

Arden isn't big now, nor was it back in the 1800s, so everyone married their neighbours; thus, all of Arden and its families’ histories were celebrated on Sept. 12. I can promise you it will not be the last gathering; I am already working on the next one for 2011.

We would like to thank everyone for attending and for the wonderful food. We would also like to thank Earl and Irene Monds and Bill Pringle for all their help, and the wonderful people from the Legion in Arden who were so gracious to us, especially Angie Deline, who did a great job in assisting me.