Where the Heck is Balaheck?: Unusual Place-Names from Eastern Ontario

Barbara B. Aitken is a public services librarian in the Douglas Library
at Queen’s University, a board certified genealogical record specialist, and a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Michael Dawber has a journalist’s keen sense for the intriguing
vignettes of local history. This book, which relates the folklore and
history of more than 400 place names in Eastern Ontario, is organized
according to the counties, including Glengarry County and all the
counties westward to Peterborough County. There is an excellent index.

Dawber, who co-authored Fitsell’s Guide to the Old Ontario Strand
(1994), is highly familiar with the back roads and lore of Eastern
Ontario. He has tracked down the origins of the unusual names of the
tiny hamlets that were not included in such major studies as Places of
Ontario (Mika) and Lost Names and Places of Eastern Ontario (Rayburn).
This book is recommended for those interested in local history and
genealogy.