Rockingham (ghost town)

This village was named after Rockingham Castle in Britain. In 1858, John Samuel James Watson left Rockingham Castle where he lived, but he left in disgrace. The 36-year old man had married a maid, Mary Martin, 14 years his junior. "This alliance, so far below his station" was just not acceptable to the Watson family who had lived at the castle, built for William the Conqueror, since Edward Watson leased the property in 1553.

The Watson clan took a practical approach to solving the problem. Legend has it that they invested $10,000 to finance John's banishment to Canada. He used some of the money to recruit a group of neighbours with the skills necessary to carve a village out of the wilderness. They made their way across the Atlantic, up the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers to Farrell's Landing near Renfrew. They continued along the primitive Ottawa and Opeongo Colonization Road for about 80 km and the Peterson Branch Road for another 5 km. They then turned off for 3 km to their destination, a wooded valley containing a patch of arable soil, rare in the Canadian Shield."

Today it retains a few old buildings like its wooden church. People do still live here and it is a semi-ghost town along the old Peterson Colonization Rd.

The hamlet is located 15 km east of Combermere.