6/23/18: I know I’ve said it several times, that this area reminds us some of the San Juan Islands, with all the beautiful islands around. In some ways it is nicer for boating, since it is fresh water, there are no tides, and generally just a little current. That makes it easier to put out an anchor, although there is some swirly current in some places. It is odd and it is really weirding us out that the current seems to die down at night. How can that be? Maybe there are locks and dams downriver that adjust the flow at night. Anyway, today REALLY reminds us of the Pacific Northtwest due to the weather….On and off drizzle and gray clouds all day, with temperature in the mid 60’s.
We had a leisurely morning. It was raining, so we decided to just hang out and not get too wet yet. Engineering even fired up Genny (the generator) so we could have pancakes for breakfast! About 1:00, we figured we should move along. The rain died down to just a sprinkle. Our long voyage of 3 miles took us to Gananoque (Gan-a-KNOCK-way), on the mainland Ontario. The area was named by the Iroquois natives, meaning “place on the rocks by swift moving water”. Hmmm – I don’t see much swift moving water here today. The town was founded by Loyalists (those loyal to the Crown of England) in 1792. It was a site that endured skirmishes between the U.S. and Britain, especially the war of 1812. We walked into town, which was just a few blocks away from the marina. On the way, we saw another black squirrel. He kind of looks like a little bear -check out the ears!
We found a brewery in town, so of course we checked it out. The building was originally built in 1860 as a bell tower. The brewery owners restored and repurposed the building as a brewery. It still has the bell in the tower, complete with a rope to ring it.
They only had six beers on tap, and no ciders or wine because they are only allowed to sell what they produce at this location. Captain tried the Black Bear Bock, with an IBU 30, which shouldn’t be too hoppy. It had a dark coffee flavor with a lotta hop! It was a busy little place, but we needed some dinner, so we moved on.
This is a normal little town, with banks, pharmacy, convenience store, restaurants, bars, shops. We tried the English Pub for dinner. We were seated at a table for two, but after 10 minutes of sitting and not so much as a hello from a server, let alone even a menu to look at, we decided to try another place. Several places had help wanted signs in their windows. I think this town, like most along the river, are very seasonal and perhaps it’s hard to find experienced dependable help. We settled on Maroni’s Mediterranean, just because Kenny liked the gangster name. After dinner as we walked along in town I took some pics of a few places. The St. John’s Catholic Church was built in 1889 of local limestone. The roof tiles were laid in a really interesting pattern!
Just about across the street was St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, which is Gananoque’s oldest church, built in 1854.
Along the same street was this clock tower. It is 85 feet tall, erected in 1905, as a gift to the town by one of the descendants of the town’s founding family. And it still keeps accurate time!
The post office was right there by the clock tower. Check out these faces over the right side door!
This was just a really attractive and appealing bed & breakfast, with a gurgling brook falling into a koi pond, and a very beautiful lush garden. I think about all the work needed to create and/or rejuvenate a garden after seven months of winter including several feet of snow and ice. (They had snow from October to April this year!) A lot of the homes have some kind of trim along the eves like this one. I don’t know the heritage or significance of the “gingerbread” as my dad would call it.
We headed back to the boat for a quiet evening. We lucked out that we didn’t get rained on for our walkabout. It rained all morning, and it’s supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow.
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6/24/18: A nice sleep-in day. Not much on the schedule today since it’s supposed to be another rainy day. It did kind of clear-up in the afternoon, so I decided to go on a photo safari to look at more buildings. I saw on-line that the visitors center has a historic walking tour map, so that would be my first stop. Mechanic Kenny said he’d stay at the boat and go down in the engine room to commune with the machinery. I found the town hall. It was originally the home of John McDonald, a prominent businessman and and leader in the town, built in 1831. He’s the guy who built and donated the clock tower. There was a statue out front honoring all of the men and women of Gananoque who gave their lives for their country in various wars.
This old house looked like so many that we saw in colonial U.S. It was built in the early 1800’s from locally quarried sandstone, by the owner of the local tannery at the time. It is the only home that has a balcony that overhangs the sidewalk, and there were folks out on it enjoying the day. The sidewalk goes right under it!
This building was similar, also built in 1800. The interior was recently completely refurbished and repurposed as a fine dining restaurant.
This nice big house was originally built in 1826, renovated in 1870, and is now Beaver Hall Bed and Breakfast. It is a big place! It has quite a different roof line than most, and the weather vane is a beaver!
Nothing special about this house, but I thought their sidewalk gardens were really pretty with the hostas and red geraniums. Again – beautiful gardens. But I bet the gardeners in town just can’t wait until they can dig in the dirt and put some color in the their yards in the Spring!
This is one of the oldest hotels in town, operated as the Provincial Hotel for over 100 years from 1885-1989. It is currently the Riverside Bar & Grill.
During my photo safari, I found a historic building that now serves ice cream. And not just any ice cream, but Kawartha, which is from a local Bobcaygeon Ontario dairy, and it was yummy! (We’ll visit Bobcaygeon in a couple of weeks.). The building that this little ice cream station is located in was originally built in 1861, and has served as a jail, hardware store, and even a hair salon.
This was just a neat looking house – notice all the filigree trim along the eves. Seems to be a thing here.
This building was constructed in 1860 and housed the Gananoque Carriage Works. It was converted into a hotel in 1896, and has served the community as a hotel ever since. It is now the Gananoque Inn. It is down on the waterfront, so it is easily accessible for those arriving by water. (Notice the tour bus parked out front?)
Also on the waterfront is the big docking area for the scenic cruise boats. We have seen so many of these plying the waters every day, along with various others from both the U.S. and Canada. The area is truly very beautiful, and there are lots of cruise boats cruising around! I’m really surprised how much tourism there is here!
It started to sprinkle rain just as I was getting back to the boat. Mr. Mechanic had pulled out some air filters and was cleaning some oily residue up from the starboard engine – it likes to secrete oily vapors. It’s a bad habit she has. Oh – speaking of old motors with lots of hours…. we are currently at 2475 miles and 296 hours on this trip. When we bought Island Girl three years ago, she had 970 hours in 15 years: she was new in 2000. That’s only like 65 hours per year! Now she has 1678 hours. We’ve put 700 hours on her, and 300 of that is in the last 3 months! No sense having a boat if you don’t use her, right?
We’ll leave Gananoque tomorrow, and explore the Thousand Islands a bit more. They actually have an island named MERMAID ISLAND! We might need to go there. 😉