The next Still Standing town on our way north was Mattawa. We were on our way to Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park, which is 13 km west of Mattawa, and had just enough time for a short stroll in town before continuing on our northern quest.
Mattawa lies at the confluence of the Mattawa and Ottawa Rivers and was a meeting place and thoroughfare for many millennia. First Nations, voyageurs, explorers, fur traders, and European settlers used these rivers as their highway.
Today, we mostly play on the river.
The area has a large Francophone community brought in by economic activities as well as the proximity to the Quebec border.
The town was home to some some interesting and diverse characters, such as Anahareo, wife of writer and conservationist Grey Owl, Lillian Bilsky Freiman, a philanthropist and Zionist who was designated a Person of National Historic Significance by the Canadian Government, and Dr. Firmin Monestime, Canada’s first black mayor.
Copyrights Mattawa Museum
We went for a walk in Mattawa Point Park
and enjoyed a quiet time by the water. There is always something special by the water.
Unfortunately, the local museum closed due to the pandemic, so we just admired the grounds and the huge statue of Joseph Montferrand
who was the inspiration for Big Joe Mufferow, one of Canada’s folk heroes.
The main downtown core has carved historic figures in front of many businesses; it was fun walking along and reading about them.
Here is Jean de Brébeuf, the Jesuit priest.
The carved wooden statues stand silent guard in front of many businesses, some closed because of the pandemic.
So we decided to support the local liquor store and continue on our way.
Next we visit Temagami, one of our Standing Right Next Door towns.
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What an interesting town. Your journey is fun to follow.
Thanks for visiting with us, Linda!
The picture of the stones in the water looks a lot like Loch Ness!
Cool! Too bad you can’t post pictures in the comments.
How kind of you to support the local liquor store 🙂
Haha, isn’t it? We thought so too!
I have a fascination with small towns, mainly because I’m fascinated by the people who live and survive there. I looked up Mattawa and saw that the population was around 2,000.
I do too! It’s a bit sad that we now travel and try to keep away from people so that aspect of our travel has changed a lot.
Thanks for the visit of MATTAWA, I knew the name for seeing it on the maps, but it’s a road north of Algonquin that I’ve never driven.
Same here. For some reason we never went that way. Well worth the drive (if you can handle the black flies!)
I really enjoyed the story of Joe Muffraw!
Thanks! We also thought it was an interesting story!