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.

Imagination

Continuing on where I left off yesterday with the Window On The Forest.

A passage from King's will is found on the stone, where he left the estate to the people of Canada as a thank-offering for being able to serve the country in leadership. That is the kind of mindset we need in government.

Another oddity- a fireplace mantle half buried in the soil, serving as a bench. There is a ghost story here on the estate. A journalist went up to the estate one day after retirement, sat down on a bench, and was aware of King himself sitting down beside him. This was after King had died. The two talked about the state of the country and King's legacy. Was it right here?

The next folly, called the Arc de Triomphe, also taken from Ottawa.

This is in the woods behind it.

The path led onwards.