From Burleigh to Boschink: A Community Called Stony Lake

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.

Social histories can be also local histories, but the reverse is seldom
the case. One exception is From Burleigh to Boschink, a local history so
exquisitely reflective of a specific lifestyle that it becomes a social
history. Which is to say its potential market is much wider than the
Stony Lake fan club niche.

Stony Lake in Ontario was the site of an early cottage community.
Canoeing, sailing, swimming, fishing, mosquito-swatting—a century of
the essence of cottaging are captured through historical records and the
long memories of older residents. The facts are given (dates and
dollars, distances, tonnage, timetables, etc.), but it is the personal
anecdotes that give the work its universal appeal and high readability
rating. For example, cottages closed for the winter are a haven for
mice. What to do? Start a rent-a-cat business. Or, rinsing clothes is a
big part of the hard work of hand laundry. Solution? Tie the laundry to
a boat and rinse it by hauling it around the lake.

The church services where the “pews” are a flotilla of canoes, a
hot cuppa tea passed from boat to boat on a canoe paddle—these special
memories make From Burleigh to Boschink a pleasant glimpse into the
history of cottaging. For those with a personal link to Stony Lake, the
rich detail and the numerous archival photos of the area make the book a
valuable local history.