11 years ago
Canada's Smallest Jailhouse
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
I've known this location since I was much younger, but only went in to explore much more recently.
The shack can just barely be seen from the road, and lies on the side of farmland. The farmland extends for a long time with no clear owner, and not many othet buildings on it. A few years ago, the owner allegedly posted on social media, inviting people nearby to freely walk their dogs here, and people have done so ever dincw. Since that point, a developer had bought out the land, but has not done much with it whatsoever. However, no tresspassing signs have appeared on the gates of the trail within the past month. This does not discourage all dog walkers.
The building itself is a very small wooden structure with two rooms, a few broken windows, and a full woodshed built into one wall. When entering, be careful of the porch, as it has a large hole in it that a person could easily trip on. Inside, there is a snall anount of graffiti on one wall, a lot of junk blocking off the second "room," and an abundance of financial documents. I am reluctant to post images of those documents here for safety reasons, but I will describe what they are and the information they gave me about the location.
There were a few papers and pamphlets concerning the Lakefield Historical society, leading me to believe that thr owner was a member of this club and a bit of a historian. There were several folders, some of which were labled "pension" and "house permits ect." Many of the other documents were tax returns for seniors concerning property and sales tax. One of these packages was dated 1995. Looking further into the documents, I was able to determine that the owner at one point must have been a Doug Kennedy, who seemingly still lived in Lakefield at the time (I won't give a specific adress for safety reasons). Through a little internet searching, it seems like he was born on March 26th, 1932, and that he died on April 28th, 2022.
There was a table set up with chairs in the centre of the main room, which may have been used as a hangout spot in the past. Blocking entrance to the other room, there were a couple of lawnchairs, a large air conditioning system, a few old wrenches, and other electrical appliances.
In addition the the shack, there are some strange wooden and brick ruins nearby, as well as an abandoned well we discovered just a little further up the trail. The well was covered with a road sign and concrete, but with a small group we were able to reveal the well and look inside. It was lined with stones and had a lot of water at the bottom, so don't climb in like my foolish friends did.