Mackenzie King

 My next stop in Gatineau Park was the Mackenzie King Estate, ideal to visit in the fall. William Lyon Mackenzie King was one of our greatest prime ministers, hugely influential in the first half of the twentieth century, and saw the country through Depression and World War Two. He served as PM for over twenty one years, from 1921-1948, with some time in opposition during those years, but most of that leading the country. Starting in 1903, he started coming to the Gatineau Hills, buying land, building a retreat, a place he could relax in. Upon his death, he willed his property to the Canadian people. Among his many other accomplishments was being instrumental in creating Gatineau Park.

It is a large estate, with two of the three homes he made here open for visits. The third, where he retired to, is called the Farm, and is home to the Speaker of the House of Commons. 

Before he got into politics, he made money as a lawyer for the Rockefellers. But his life became about public service, blended with a deep love of the outdoors. This place became his sanctuary. Over decades of his life, he would keep a journal.

The best way to visit is to start at the beginning and go to Kingswood, the first home he built here, a collection of two cottages expanded on over time, with a carriage house. He bought land on  Kingsmere Lake, and would expand that as the years unfolded.

The path includes quotes from his journals, the words mounted along the stone walls he had placed along the paths.

Kingswood is a combination of the lake's name and his childhood home, Woodside, in southern Ontario.

And here we arrive, with the carriage house in the foreground, and the guest cottage in the background.

A look to the left gives us a look towards the main cottage, nestled in the trees. We'll pick up here tomorrow.