Audio Transcript

Alright cottage lovers, you are now officially in the heart of cottage country. If you take the Lake Joseph Road exit coming up and head East, 15 beautiful kilomters later, you'll find yourself in Port Carling, the oldest town here in the Muskokas. Don’t judge though, just because it’s old doesn’t mean it has wrinkles and goes to bed at 6pm. It’s still a very beautiful, vibrant town full of life.

 

Ok, so the Ojibway first settled there and named it Obajewanung or Obogawanung which means ‘spice up your life’.... or am I confusing that with my favorite song.. hmm .. ya.. ya it actually means "meeting place."  Europeans on the other hand called it Indian Gardens… hey.. Indian food is spicey soooo … I was kind of right!   

 

So when Benjamin Hardcastle Johnston established a post office there in 1869, the name became Port Carling after John Carling, Ontario Minister of Public Works.  Port Carling features lots of little shops, restaurants, docks, and of course wonderful, cozy cottages.

 

Tourism and logging became large parts of the economy--due in part because of the locks between Lake Muskoka and Lake Rosseau (Ross-o), which were completed in 1871.  The locks are an important feature on the lakes, so important they provide Port Carling with a special nickname