City Daily Photo Theme Day: Best Of The Year

 My last of this set of favourite shots of the year takes us out to Gatineau Park, a federal park run by the National Capital Commission over on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. The NCC runs shuttles into the park on weekends, and I took one in the fall, stopping at the Champlain Lookout, where the southern flank of the Gatineau Hills descends to the valley floor along the Eardley Escarpment. The Ottawa River can be seen, with the limits of Ottawa on the far shore. This place is a delight to visit, high above the valley floor.

Another visit made on this fall day was to the Mackenzie King Estate. William Lyon Mackenzie King was one of our greatest prime ministers, and no one was more dominant in the Canadian political scene in the first half of the 20th century, seeing the country through much of the Depression and the Second World War. He bought land up here early on in his political career, inspired by nature, and would make it his weekend and summer retreat, starting with cottages he called Kingswood. This is the main cottage.

The land was along one shore of Kingsmere Lake- the name preceded his time here, but must have convinced him this was his place to call a home.

As time went on and he became prime minister, he built a house that he could properly entertain the great and the good in. The second house on the property he called Moorside, and here his ideas of landscaping, gardening, and being engaged with nature took full form, alongside his ideas for the country.

He was a man of staunch Scots Presbyterian sensibility and sentiment, and among his ideas were follys- structures that served no purpose but sentiment, salvaged from buildings that were being demolished, and turned into something new on his property.

This is expressed best in the Abbey Ruins, which blends together pieces from homes in Ottawa, as well as sections of the former Center Block on Parliament Hill, and even stones from the printing press of his own grandfather.

King left his estate to the people of the country he loved so much, as thanks for the opportunity to serve them in leadership. A visit to this estate uplifts the soul.

My last stop on this visit was Pink Lake, not that far away from the estate. Named after a family of settlers from the 19th century, it is a meromictic lake- a rarity among lakes in that the layers do not mix, and there is low oxygen content in the deeper layers. A hiking trail winds around it.

It is a peaceful place, with a life all to its own.

The Highest Joy In Life

 On my way back, I photographed the garage, a detached portion of the main house at Moorside. The first floor was open for children's activities.

The main house as seen from the east.

And one more look at that big meadow.

It was time to go.

William Lyon Mackenzie King spent the better part of half a century in service to the country, becoming hugely influential in its direction and establishing many of the institutions we see today. He was one of the giants of the twentieth century, and when he decided it was time to step down, it was one of his colleagues, Louis St. Laurent, a man he brought into politics, who succeeded him.

He would retire here to the estate, dying two years later. He willed the estate to the people of the country he loved so much, noting in his will that he felt that "the highest joy in life is to be found in some form of public service. Instead of the state being indebted to the one who gives of his time and means to the country's affairs and to the betterment of human conditions, the obligation is the other way around."

Again, that is the sort of mindset more politicians should follow.

The path beckoned me on.

Aside from his enormous contributions to the country as a whole, his accomplishments locally included the establishment of Gatineau Park and the idea of Ottawa as a capital undergoing urban planning to really look the part of a capital.

One last shot- the woods and the low walls of stone so typical of the estate.

If Rocks Could Talk

 This portion of the Abbey Ruins is taken from the Batson House, which had stood in the Lowertown portion of Ottawa and had once been owned by a former premier of Quebec. King brought it here as a symbol of his appreciation of French-Canadian support.

This is also a portion of the Batson House, completing the Abbey Ruins in a dramatic, sentimental way.

It was time to head back. I took one last look back at the Abbey Ruins. Until next time.

The Abbey Ruins

 The next folly is beyond the fence, a pleasant walk away.

The Abbey Ruins is King's best expression of a folly, taking pieces of buildings, steeped in history, and reimagining them as something that looks ancient.

And here we have it.

It is in four sections, with this one containing the crest of a former Speaker of the House at Westminster, a fireplace hearth from the original Centre Block which had been destroyed by fire in 1916, and stones in that fireplace that King had taken from the printing office that his grandfather had established. Everything here has meaning.

The next section over includes more stones from the original Centre Block, gathered up around a stone tablet that features the Arms of England.

A nearby section we'll look at more tomorrow, this is from a house that was being demolished in Ottawa. King acquired sections of it to be reestablished here.