Hotspur (ghost town)

Hotspur is a semi-ghost settlement in the former Monmouth Township of Haliburton. Take Hwy 503 east from Gooderham to Bryan(a)s Rd and turn right. Its about a km in from there.

It is one of those ghost settlements that has either been reclaimed by the forest or was once based on bush farming/logging. The old school still stands but in a densely forested area, much like the ghost town of Cheddar. For fun locals have put a skeleton beside the school at a desk with the words "Class of 1900" inscribed. Prior to its closing, after many settlers had left the community, it had only 2 students remaining.

The township of Monmouth was surveyed in 1862, the name taken from the County of Monmouth on the border between England and Wales. Early settlers accessed the area by the Monck and Burleigh Colonization Roads. The 1871 Peterborough County Directory records the township as unsettled.

An early settler was Thomas Clark of Hotspur. He became post master where the Monck Rd crossed over the Burnt River.

Any more info on Hotspur (such as industry) would be appreciated.

Hotspur was a flag stop on the IBO Railway, but the actual stop was well north of its geographic centre.

According to topo maps dated 1980 Hotspur(a)s main section was further in on the road past the school to Lee(a)s Road where you turn right and then see a farm on the left back in a bit.

I also found this online: "Founded in 1871, Hotspur was located on the pioneering Monck Road which traveled from Lake Simcoe to the Hastings Boundary. The still-standing frame school house located there was built around 1900, and the settlement also had a post office and a large Hotel built by Daniel Ireland beside the Burnt River. William Less looked after the mail and would walk to Tory Hill for mail pick-up three times a week. Lumbering was a mainstay for residents, and many summer homes are named after Hotspur. "