Summertimes: In Celebration of 100 Years of the Muskoka Lakes Association

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.

Thirteen authors have each contributed an essay to this natural and
social history of central Ontario’s vacation area known as the
Muskokas.

The structure of the book echoes the development of the area: an
opening essay introducing the geology and ecology of the Muskokas is
followed by sections on the Native peoples, surveyors, explorers,
settlers, and the lumber-industry era.

Approximately half the work is devoted to the past 100 years, a period
that saw the development of tourism, resorts, cottages, and recreational
boating. Only the last essay looks at the activities and accomplishments
of the Muskoka Lakes Association.

Given the number of authors involved, the quality of the text is
remarkably uniform. While not exciting, the smooth, professional copy
makes for pleasant reading.

Lots of illustrations—many in color—assure the work’s success as
a coffee-table book that will yield hours of browsing. Variety of
illustration types is another strength. They include archival photos,
watercolors and pastels, a few oil paintings, modern scenic photos,
reproductions of historic documents, photos of artifacts, and maps.

This is a rich portrait of a time and place that played a unique role
in Ontario’s social history. It belongs in every history collection in
the province.