Top 3 Abandoned Places In Addington Highlands

There are so many abandoned places in Addington Highlands! This is a list of the top three abandoned places in Addington Highlands. Browse through all abandoned places in Addington Highlands

1. Massanoga (ghost town)

On a lead from clay70: Massanoga started as a mill town just off of highway 41 north of Bon Echo Provincial Park. Starting in 1938, the small mill town was built for the families of the 200 employees along the northern shore of Stoll Lake. At one point the town had a rec. hall (where they held dances and movies for everyone), bunkhouses, black smith, cottages furlor the workers and their families, dining hall and a few garages. In 1942 a school was added for a few years and a post office.

1945 saw the moving of the planing mill to Kaladar. The mill closed in 1962 but the milling industry rebounded for a bit until the main mill burned down in 1974. It was replaced with a portable mill until 1976 when everything shut down and was moved to Eganville. The rec. was dismantled in 1975.

The woods around Stoll lake are littered with remains of vehicles, machinery and buildings. All that is left of the town are a few foundations and the bottom portion of the blacksmith chimney.

Now the area is a popular hunting spot, so if you go in November, wear orange for safety. Just down the road from Stoll Lake is Machesney Lake which is the location of a Ministry of Natural Resources Ranger Training camp.

The map of the town was found in Ghost Towns of Ontario by Ron Brown and the picture of the mill is courtesy of the Tweed Heritage Center. The map and the mill picture were used with permission by Ron Brown and Tweed Heritage Center.
If you look on Google Maps the name of the town is still there, but the location is in the wrong spot, the old town site is just a bit west of the Google location.

2. Rose Hill (ghost farms)

Rose Hill was the name given to the post office for this mountainous corner of Addington County.

As we know, free land grants were given to settlers back in the late 1800s providing they build a dwelling measuring 16x20 feet and clearing the acreage each year. The single lane dirt roads had to also be kept up to standard since these were the only means of travel, other than backwoods hiking. Often the roads would be rutted to extreme measures and logs were set in place to help with the travel. These were called corduroy roads. Today these roads still exist but are impassable in the area around the 1st set of ghost farms we trekked to. At one time they all connected to where the Rose Hill post office stood, to Glenfield and Vennachar in the south, and to Matawatchan to the east in Renfrew County.

The water sources for the farmers were all tiny creeks which flowed into the main water channel called Glenfield Creek. In summer this river doesn't flow extremely hard, but in spring it is a real stunning torrent to behold. Our trek involved a good 2 km walk along the old trail, past the Glenfield Creek (still running with Speckled Trout) and onward. Reaching the open fields where the remains still stand is always a joy for me. We sat and rested on one particular grassy hill, ate our lunch, while imagining the hardships the pioneer family who lived there over 100 yrs ago must have withstood (ie the kids walking through 5 feet of snow, in a temperature of -40 to their school about 4 miles away).

On the side of this hill where our feet dangled over, was a large hole which I am certain was a barn that was dug out to allow cows to stay warm over the winter months. Just below us was another tributary of the Glenfield Creek meandering its way through the muskeg and deep hilly forests.

3. Vennachar

Vennachar was first settled in 1861 and became one of the major towns in the Addington Highlands, servicing farms and the lumber industry in the surrounding area. Its prominence came to an end in 1903 when a fire swept through the area destroying most of the homes and businesses.

Today, there are a few remaining residents, but the town is in severe decline. The photos are of the chrrch which survived the fire and was restored in 1987. Although locked, visitors are told to inquire at the Vennachar Store, which, unfortunately, no longer exists.

Although my time was limited when I came across this gem, I intend to return and explore a little more.

I have included a couple of links which give a better, although now outdated, history of the town.