Moorside Meadow

 More looks today at Kingsmere Lake.

I headed up the slope back towards the cottages at Kingswood. I glanced back down for one last look at the lake.

I was heading towards Moorside, where Mackenzie King built a true home.

Another quote from his journals was found here.

This path leads to the large meadow running in front of Moorside. As King rose to power, it became obvious that cottages were insufficient for entertaining the sort of visitors he might get as a prime minister to his summer retreat. Moorside became the answer. He would grow crops and gardens here, and his ideas for landscapes and the country would develop here.

The meadow is particularly picturesque in fall, surrounded by changing colours.

I took a panoramic shot from here.

Zooming in on the house, I was surprised to find it cordoned off. Work is being done on it, and so the building itself was closed for visits.

Along The Shore

 There is a pump house down here near the shore of Kingsmere Lake.

The lake is particularly lovely in the autumn. Gatineau Park has cottages, including on the far shore, grandfathered in after the establishment of the federal park, but not that many of them.

I headed towards the lake house.

Along the way I photographed up slope to where the cottages are, through the green turning to gold.

Here by the lake house, another look at the lake.

A place to change for swimming, or to store a canoe or two. King enjoyed his time at this lake, and being social, would invite his guests for a swim or time on the waters.

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.