I realized yesterday that I had passed four thousand published posts in this blog more than a month ago without noticing it. Time flies, doesn't it?
Returning today to my series. My next stop was a visit to the Mackenzie King Estate. The country retreat for five decades for one of our greatest prime ministers, William Lyon Mackenzie King, it was willed to the people of Canada upon his death. Two of the three homes on the estate are open for visits by the public. Stepping through this introductory area, the path beyond to the right takes us to the first of those homes, Kingswood.
The path crosses a road. The third of the homes, called the Farm, today is the official residence of the Speaker of the House of Commons, and is off limits. Mackenzie King was a young lawyer who made money working for the Rockefellers, and then a politician, who first came here at the dawn of the 20th century, drawn by names already present- King Mountain, which lies nearby, and Kingsmere Lake, which the estate is on. He would, over time, build homes and develop his own ideas of landscaping among nature that left behind a marvelously appealing place to visit.
He was an avid diarist. Quotes from his diary can be found in physical form like this, or as part of a display board.
Here we arrive at Kingswood, where the carriage house is in the foreground, with the guest cottage in the background.
This is the first time I can recall seeing the carriage house open. I stepped inside.
The fall colours were lovely.
A look at the guest cottage, which came after he had built the main cottage.
I went inside. The place feels very comfortable, like a real home- a common element to the property as a whole. I think that if Mackenzie King were to walk into the room, that pretty much right off, I'd like him a lot.
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