In Search of Lanark, a historical overview of its towns, villages & townships (Lanark County, Eastern Ontario)

By Carol Bennett-McCuaig (text) and D W McCuaig (photos)

In Search of Lanark provides a historical overview of Lanark County's towns, villages and townships. Each community's chapter features a written historical sketch by Carol Bennett-McCuaig and photos of interest by D. W. McCuaig. Many individual settlers are mentioned as are noteable persons and families. This expanded edition contains 160 illustrations of fine old stone houses, log cabins, churches, rail fences, and people from one of eastern Ontario's most beautiful counties. You will find everything that was in the 1980 edition plus information, photos, and communities that were omitted from that first edition.

The author describes the evolution of this expanded edition in the Foreword :

• "During the years 1976 and 1977, a series of photo features dealing with the history of Lanark County communities appeared in The Canadian, Carleton Place's weekly newspaper. The articles were well received, but there was one complaint from readers. "The pages are too big to fit into a scrapbook," several people said. "Why don't you put those features into a book?"
  
  Our first edition of "In Search of Lanark" appeared in 1980. What to include in the book was a puzzle. Some communities have so many historic buildings, beautifully preserved, that the original newspaper articles ran to two or three pages. For reasons of space, not all these photographs could be included in the book. Choices had to be made.
  
  Several communities did not appear in the series because they were outside our circulation area at the time. Because of this, the town of Smiths Falls and a number of villages and townships did not appear in the [first edition of the] book. In the second edition we have rectified this, and we feel that it presents a more complete picture of beautiful Lanark County.
  
  Our articles were never intended to be an authoritative history of the county. This was hardly possible when the articles appeared weekly. They are simply an overview of historic Lanark [county], which we hope will inspire readers to go and see for themselves the communities we have described.
  
  Not all pioneer families could be mentioned. Only a crosssection of historic buildings could be featured. Nevertheless, the articles helped preserve in a small way some of the vanishing past. This hit home when we were editing the articles for the book. Some of the older people, interviewed by us in 1976 and 1977 are gone now. Some of the homes and stores we visited have passed into other hands. A few of the buildings have disappeared, such as the old Appleton school house, since destroyed by fire."  - Carol Bennett-McCuaig

The following communities are mentioned in this edition. How many do you recognize?

• Adamsville, Allan'sMills, Almonte, Althorpe, Andrewsville, Appleton, Apple Tree Falls, Armstrong's Corners, Ashton, Balderson, Balderson's Corner, Bellamy's Mills, Bennie's Corners, Black's Corners, Blakeney, Bolingbroke, Boyd's Settlement, Brightside, Carleton Place, Cedar Hill, Clarksville, Clayton, Clyde Forks, Clydesville, Comrie's Corners, Cross Keys, Cuckoo's Nest, Derry - the, Doran's Village, Drummond Centre, Elliott, Elphin, Ennisville, Fallbrook, Ferguson's Falls, Flower Station,, Franktown, Freer's Falls, Galbraith, Gillies' Corners, Gillies' Mills, Glen Isle, Glen Tay, Granny Cumming's Corner, Griffiths' Corners, Hall's Mills, Halpenny, Harper, Harvey's Mills, Herron's Mills, Hood, Hopetown, Huntersville, Innisville, Kilmarnock, Lammermoor, Lanark Village, Lavant, Leckie's Corners, Maberly, Mann's Corners, McDonald's Corners, McGarry, McPhail, Merrick's Mills, Merrickville, Middleton, Middleville, Millford, Morphy's Falls, Mount Pleasant, New Lanark, Norway Pine Falls, Numogate, Pakenham, Perth, Pierce's Corners, Pike River, Playfair, Playfair's Mills, Poland, Port Elmsley, Prestonvale, Prospect, Ramsayville, Rideau Ferry, Rokeby, Rosebank, Rosedale, Roseville, Rosetta, Scotch Colony - the, Scotch Corners, Shepherd's Falls, Shipman's Mills, Smith Falls, Snedden's Mills, Snow Road(Frontenac Co.), Stanleyville, Sumner's Corners, Tatlock, Tennyson, Teskeyville, Union Hall, Wardsville, Waterford, Watson's Corners, White, Wilbur.

Contents include:

• Foreword
• Chapters:
  • Almonte
  • Appleton
  • Ashton
  • Balderson
  • Bathurst Township
  • Beckwith Township
  • Bennie's Corners
  • Black's Corners
  • Blakeney
  • Boyd's Settlement
  • Carleton Place
  • Cedar Hill
  • Clayton
  • Clydesville & Herron's Mills
  • Dalhousie, Lavant & North
  • Sherbrooke Townships
  • Drummond Township
  • Elphin
  • Fallbrook
  • Ferguson's Falls
  • Franktown
  • Hopetown
  • Innisville
  • Lanark Village
  • Lanark & Darling Townships
  • McDonald's Corners
  • Merrickville
  • Middleville
  • Montague Township
  • North Burgess Township
  • North Elmsley Township
  • Pakenham
  • Perth
  • Prospect
  • Ramsay Township
  • Rideau Canal, the
  • Rosetta
  • Smiths Falls
  • Snow Road
  • South Sherbrooke Township
  • Tennyson
  • Watson's Corners

After decades of being out of print, In Search of Lanark's, revised and expanded 1982 edition is available once again in its complete original format under an exclusive publishing agreement with the author's heirs.

Details:

• 124 Pages
  
• 8-1/2 x 11"
  
• 160 photographs/illustrations
• Softcover - Coil bound
  
• The digital version has a PDF search feature that enables you to instantly find any name or word. The lack of an Index in the printed edition is disappointing because so many early settlers and noteable people are mentioned.
• Originally published by Juniper Books, Renfrew, 1982 under ISBN 0-919137-02-4
  
• This new edition published by Global Heritage Press, Ottawa, 2022 under ISBN 978-1-77240-196-7