Take a trip to cottage country, without leaving the city
If you're suddenly town-bound when you'd rather be on the dock, the beach or the boat, here's a look back at cottage life through the decades.
CBC News ·
Ottawa's Billings Bridge isn't exactly cottage country anymore, but in 1900 you didn't have to go too far out of town to get away from it all. (James Ballantyne/Library and Archives Canada)
If you're suddenly town-bound when you'd rather be on the dock, the beach or the boat, here's a look back at cottage life through the decades.
On the Rideau River
This spot along the Rideau River looked like the perfect place for a cool dip in the 1920s. (Library and Archives Canada)
'Ethel Kerr in a rowboat on the Rideau at Osgoode at Elizabeth Stuart's cottage' is the caption on this sepia-toned photo from the Osgoode Historical Society. (Osgoode Township Historical Society and Museum)
Algonquin Park
Guests enjoy a visit to Killarney Lodge on Lake of Two Rivers in Algonquin Park in 1949. (Chris Lund/Library and Archives Canada)
Measuring a catch on Algonquin Park's Grand Lake, likely around the 1930s. (Library and Archives Canada)
The Bartlett family poses by the water at Algonquin Park in 1913. (William James Topley/Library and Archives Canada)
Golden Lake
A scene from the Gilwinkee Lodge resort on Golden Lake in 1951. (National Film Board of Canada/Library and Archives Canada)
Marilyn Bell, the champion long-distance swimmer who in 1954 became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario, makes a splash at Golden Lake in this undated photo. (City of Ottawa Archives | CA033691)
Western Quebec
Cottagers enjoy the fall foliage along the Gatineau River in October 1950. (Gar Lunney/Library and Archives Canada)
Former prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King at Kingswood Cottage in Gatineau Park in the 1920s, now part of the Mackenzie King Estate. (Library and Archives Canada)
It's all downhill from here: In this undated photo, a cottage teeters on the edge after a landslide near the Gatineau River. (City of Ottawa Archives | CA032011)
2 for the road
In our oldest photo, two men enjoy a picnic in the Thousand Islands region in 1882. That's U.S. president Chester A. Arthur on the right. (A.C. McIntyre/Library and Archives Canada)
This Ottawa cottage, seen here in 1892, is a familiar sight to anyone who's been paying attention to our pandemic coverage. It's Rideau Cottage, currently home to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family, and the backdrop to his daily news conferences. (William James Topley/Library and Archives Canada)
