Still Smiling at the Front Desk, by Susan Pryke (Sun Fire Pub. 2006)
This definitive History of Port Stanton was originally published as a slim forerunner by Susan Stanton in 1984, printed by Gravenhurst Printing.
See You Next Summer: Postcard Memories of Sparrow Lake Resorts, by Bruce M. McCraw (Natural Heritage, 1998)
Bustling station platforms, with quaint steamers nearby, often appear on early Sparrow Lake postcards. It was at the station that rail passengers were met and taken by boat to one of the over 20 hotels that once flourished in this holiday area. Such a trip could take about three hours on this roughly three-mile lake, bordering the southern Muskoka arm of the Canadian Shield. Upon arrival, the outdoors beckoned to one and all.
A Respectable Ditch: A History of the Trent Severn Waterway, 1833-1920
The Trent-Severn Waterway took almost ninety years to build, cost over $24 million, and contains some remarkable engineering feats -as well as a few spectacular mistakes. The passage of the first boat through the waterway in July 1920 marked the realization of a dream that was older than the nation itself. The dream was to connect Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay with a navigable watercourse that would be shorter and more protected than the longer route through the Great Lakes. In detailing the history of the Trent-Severn Waterway’s construction, James Angus provides an intriguing picture of the complex operation of local, provincial, and national politics, showing how the perceptions, intrigues, selfish interests, and national dreams of nineteenth-century politicians led to the construction of a canal that the country could ill-afford. (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1998)
Severn River; An Illustrated History, by James T. Angus (Severn Publications Ltd., Orillia, 1995.)
A Legacy Almost Lost, by Betty Chish-Graham.
This anthology of family stories was originally published in 1992 by the Kilworthy Historical Committee. Photocopies are available from Sparrow Lake Historical Society for $45. Contact Sara Clipsham at saraclipsham(at)gmail.com
Kathinka’s Story; A Pioneer Family’s Life at Sparrow Lake, by Ursula Soper. (2017) Copies are available from Sparrow Lake Historical Society for $12. Contact Sara Clipsham at saraclipsham(at)gmail.com
The Monstern, by Muriel Clipsham, (published posthumously by Bill Clipsham, 2003), a novel based on the life and times of Meta Wiancko, an early German settler on Sparrow Lake.