Jackson's Point: Ontario's First Cottage Country
Description
Contains Illustrations, Maps, Bibliography, Index
$16.95
ISBN 1-55046-053-6
DDC 917.3'547
Author
Publisher
Year
Contributor
Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.
Review
A dominant but unfortunate characteristic of this book is its awkward
size and shape, which make holding it open to read an exercise in
persistence.
That challenge aside, it is soon obvious that the book celebrates an
often-overlooked corner of south-central Ontario. Jackson’s Point was
a popular Ontario summer area from approximately 1880 to 1940. While not
offering the dramatic landscape of the much better known Muskoka area,
it had the advantages of being closer to Toronto and accessible by
radial railway and stagecoach. As well as Lake Simcoe’s scenery,
fishing, and pleasure boating, the area had a “health spring,” a
sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis, hotels, a golf course, and
a summer theatre.
Mazo de la Roche and Stephen Leacock were both regular visitors to
Jackson’s Point and both are buried there. Another claim to fame for
the area is that in 1933 it was the site of what was then the world’s
largest picnic (more than 25,000 participants).
The book, which includes chapters on the early settlers, landmarks,
transportation, and industry, has some value as a local history although
it lacks the wide, in-depth look at early local residents and businesses
that a good local history requires. The area fails to come to life; the
author has given us facts but not personality, descriptions but not
motivation. The style is workmanlike, if uninspired.
The few archival photos included are of only fair quality. There’s
little in the way of visuals to generate enthusiasm, and certainly
nothing to justify the floppy horizontal page format. The captions are
bare-bones only: another missed opportunity for involving the reader.
Many more photos would be needed to give the book value as a social
history.