Divine Unrest

 Another look at the room of Isabel Mackenzie King.

Between 1915 and 1922, King sustained a number of personal losses. His sister Bella, parents, and brother Max died. The deaths would stay with him for the rest of his life, leaving him in a state of melancholy.

The fine dishes can be found here in a cabinet in the parlour.

The living room in the cottage doubled as a study. When King was inside, he would usually be found here. Long summers outside the city regardless, he was a cabinet minister and then a prime minister, and there was work that had to be done.

This space particularly appeals to me. It feels very much like a home.

His parents lived long enough to see him succeed, as a lawyer and then as a politician. They would not live to see him become the prime minister, and his great accomplishments still were ahead of him after they passed on, but needless to say, they were proud of him.

Of the losses in his life, the one he felt deepest was the death of his mother.

It was time to head down to Kingsmere Lake, which lies down among the trees, its waters just visible.

Country Life

 Another look at the guest cottage at Kingswood.

The main cottage was built in 1903, with additions added on over time.

Dogs are welcome on the estate, though understandably not inside the buildings themselves. I wonder what this dog was thinking. King himself was fond of dogs.

King's room inside the main cottage is simple, but his whole point of being here was to be able to get outside and hike the trails of his estate and beyond, not to be inside all day.

This is the stove in the original kitchen area.

And this is the summer kitchen, part of the final expansion of the cottage. King would have his staff from the city come with him to Kingswood over the summer.

When his parents came to visit, they had their own rooms at the cottages. This was his mother's room.

Kingswood

 Continuing on where I left off here at Kingswood with another look at the carriage house.

Here we see the guest cottage.

King entertained friends, family, and dignitaries during his time at Kingswood

Through to the fall in daytime, visitors can step inside the buildings. All of them feel very comfortable, very much like a home.

I am always fond of a good fireplace.

At Kingswood, the verandahs are big- time was meant to be spent outdoors, out for a walk, and even at the cottages, King wanted to spend as much time looking out at nature as possible.

Happiness

My second stop for this visit to the Gatineau Hills was the Mackenzie King Estate.

This was the summer retreat of William Lyon Mackenzie King, the dominant force in Canadian politics in the first half of the 20th century. Prime Minister from 1921-30 and 1935-1948, King led the country through crises, built national institutions, and raised the country's profile in the world. Simply put, one of our greatest prime ministers.

He first came up this way at the turn of the century, where established names like King Mountain and Kingsmere Lake would have appealed to him, and started buying land, building cottages, and hosting guests over time. The property became his refuge and his place of contentment, nestled in the beauty of nature.

Two of the residences are open to the public. The third, where King spent his final years, is called the Farm, and is official residence to the Speaker of the House of Commons. Any visit here should start at Kingswood.

King was a diarist, and some of the quotes from his diaries are found along the paths on the estate.

Kingswood is where he started building, with a main cottage, guest cottage, carriage house, and lake house on the grounds. The name is a mix of Kingsmere and his childhood home, Woodside. The creamy yellow with white and green colour motif is common to buildings on the estate. This is the carriage house.