Sharbot Lake, Ontario Not a Ghost Town
Name Honors First Native Family To Settle in the Area
Oct 20, 2008
It is a place where residents are involved in commercial and social activities throughout the year. It is also a central location for tourists and cottagers who enjoy the peaceful life on many area lakes.
Native Families From Quebec
Artifacts and archival documents prove that for centuries this was a part of the territory inhabited and visited by Native tribes for purposes of hunting and gathering. When life became intolerable for their people, several families including the Sharbots came from Lake of Two Mountains, Quebec and established permanent homes. Sharbot Lake was named to honour them.
In 1825 a surveyor commented on the area's rough, rocky, and uneven land, and its impassable swamps. He stated that no extensive improvements or settlements could ever be anticipated, yet settlement of Frontenac County's back country was promoted for years as a way to increase Kingston's prosperity.
Kingston and Pembroke Railway
New roads were built and in 1876 the Kingston and Pembroke Railway (locally referred to as the Kick and Push Railway) extended to Sharbot Lake then eventually to Renfrew, but not to Pembroke as originally planned. It became a vital link for residents who could more conveniently take produce and goods to Kingston markets and bring back necessities purchased there. Of utmost importance was its use as a carrier for the logging industry.
The railroad provided employment at fifty cents per day. People still remember the courtesies of trainmen who waited for them if they could be seen hurrying to catch the train, or if they had sent a message ahead that they would be passengers.
Sir John A. Macdonald's Special Train
When the Toronto to Ottawa railroad went through, Sharbot Lake became an important junction. In 1891 the coffin of Canada's first Prime Minister was transported by train from Ottawa to Sharbot Lake where a K and P engine was placed in front of the first engine. Draped in black, the train taking Sir John home to Kingston travelled slowly while people stood in fields and villages, heads bowed, hats in hands.
Oso Community Memorial Hall
A great fundraising effort began in Sharbot Lake when plans were presented for the construction of its Oso Community Memorial Hall in 1923. Township councillors, business people, residents, and visitors were involved. When a visiting theatrical group volunteered to present a play to help raise money, many locals took to the stage. Still a focal point within the area, the Hall located on a small hill is the site of social gatherings, public meetings, and court sessions.
During the 1930s two residents successfully canvassed the area for people wishing to have electricity installed. As required by Hydro, they asked residents to sign twenty-year contracts in which they accepted responsibility for cost of the service. The term was later reduced to five years.
There are no trains there now. The whistles are silent, the tracks and station are gone. Sharbot Lake, located near the junction of Highways #7 and #38, is known widely as a wonderful tourist location. With many lakes, rivers and nature trails nearby, it is definitely not a ghost town.
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