World War II's "Little Norway" in Toronto and Muskoka
$24.95
by Andrea Baston
Following the invasion of Norway by Germany in World War II, Canada served as a refuge for the Royal Norwegian Air Force. The RNAF rebuilt itself at “Little Norway,” a flight training camp first located at Toronto, then at Muskoka Airport near Gravenhurst, Ontario. Canadians opened their hearts to the young Norwegian recruits, who had risked their lives in dangerous escapes from their homeland.
Explore Muskoka pinpoints locations across the District which author Susan Pryke finds “interesting, intriguing, or beautiful.” For this variety-pack of locales to explore, the book’s maps are essential. Tours are split into manageable blocks because “there’s so much to see and do.”
Painter Doug Dunford has devoted many years to capturing on canvas the wooden runabouts of Ontario’s Muskoka region. This volume contains some of his finest work and the magic that can happen when a skilled painter is moved by the work of skilled boatbui
Known as “The Gateway to Muskoka,” the town of Gravenhurst’s history is replete with larger-than-life personalities, bold initiatives, major setbacks, and all the usual charms and activities of Muskoka District’s vacation economy. This richly illustrated book with dozens of heritage photographs includes local historian Cecil Porter’s charmingly recounted episodes of community development from rawest pioneer times to the devastating fire that destroyed the town’s building, but not its spirit, in 1887.
The 1930s Englishman who became Canada's aboriginal conservationist "Grey Owl" inspired naturalist writer Hap Wilson to follow his own meandering path into the wild. The result is this acount of bizarre and sublime adventures along the trail.
The District of Muskoka, today celebrated as a vacation paradise, began as a sort of hell for many would-be farmers who arrived to claim its "free land". This is the true story of one special chapter in that dramatic saga.
My Life and Views on Canada, the U.S., the World & the Universe
$29.95
by Paul Hellyer
This easy reading autobiography by one of Canada’s most engaged political leaders is a welcome key to understanding the man and the nature of public affairs that impact us all. It even clarifies how Hellyer could simultaneously be an Ottawa cabinet minister and Muskoka resort operator.
Huntsville never had an easy time during its formative decades. Founded in the 1860s amid the picturesque lakes and rolling wooded hills of northeastern Muskoka, the hamlet struggled in competition with nearby settlements.
The story of Muskoka is one strongly tied to the environment. For centuries, the granite that lies beneath its surface has shaped life on the edge of the Canadian shield. This is the story of those seeking opportunity just beyond the familiar.
This story of one Canadian town’s library reveals universal patterns in love for reading and battles for books as librarians, politicians, architects, educators, philanthropists and avid book readers mix it up for more than a century.
This work of Muskoka historical fiction by Wendy Truscott follows a young man’s path of emotions through pioneer society to his revenge-seeking act and its consequences.
A History of Recreation & Sport in Ontario’s Cottage Country, 1860-1945
$23.95
by Ray Love
This book surveys how Muskoka residents and visitors enjoyed the District’s recreational opportunities by focusing “on how people in the past used recreation and sport to enhance their lives.”
In earliest days of Muskoka colonization, the District’s most central place was also its most spectacularly beautiful. Two colonization roads intersected here, just where Muskoka’s most dramatic waterfall plunged a hundred feet down a rock faced chasm.
The people, places, and events of Muskoka District moved poet Sylvia DuVernet to lyrical expression. The songs she fashioned as poetry came from Muskoka itself, and are preserved for posterity in this treasured volume of her work.
