We continue on our trip as far north as we can go in a more-or-less straight line. On our way is another Still Standing town to visit: Cobalt.
Cobalt turned out to be a really interesting place to visit. A National Heritage Site with a rich mining history, the town is practically a museum.
As soon as you enter the town’s outskirts, you come across some of the 20 stops that are part of the Heritage silver Trail self-guided walking and driving tour.
Rights Cobalt Historical Society
Come along on the tour, take a look at this informative guide, and this brochure for more information and enjoy the photos below. The guide has an excellent glossary at the end.
The glory hole is a very large open pit with a curious name.
The short video below will give you a bit of an idea of its size.
The town has many historic buildings, such as the preserved classic theatre
The Museum and Mining Heritage Park have many open-air displays and interpretive signs.
alas, the museum and some of the stops were closed due to Covid.
But hey, this only means that we have to come back.
In the meantime, there were plenty of things to see outside!
For example, Nipissing Lookout has panoramic views from a platform built on top of the ruins of the Cobalt camp’s largest mill.
Situated at the top of Nipissing Hill,
the lookout provides a great view of Cobalt and surrounding area.
The Right Of Way Mine site is a photogenic complex of buildings that you can roam through.
With no specific destination in mind, we continued driving until we ran out of road. This is where we came across these creative sculptures.
Wait, is this a bear hiding in the tall grass?
It is time to leave Cobalt and drive on to towards Timmins and cochrane with a few small-town visits along the way.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us. You can like our Facebook page, share on your favourite social media page, or drop us a line to tell us about your experiences. When you shop via our affiliate links, shop on Amazon.com in the United States, or Amazon.ca in Canada, we will get a portion of the sales.
Thanks for the tour. It looks like a very interesting place. I bet that was a booming town in its day.
Thanks for visiting! Yes, it was an over-night boomtown!
it’s nice that the town has put together a self-guided tour to make it easier for visitors to hit all the landmarks…
It was great! Even though the museum and some of the stops were closed we were able to get a sense of the history of this town and mining in the north.
Thank you for the informative blog. When the boarders reopen, hopefully, we can again enjoy trips in Canada. Keep writing, traveling, and keeping all of us dreaming.
Thanks for reading! I hope that things will go back to normal soon. There is so much to see on both side of the border!
Travelling through Northern Ontario is like time travel, unlike the big cities, it’s as if time has moved slower here. Not only are the inhabitants aware of this, but they seem to cherish this delayed development.
This is very true! I may be a little more noticeable now during the pandemic!
What a neat place to visit. It would have been an amazing place to visit in its heyday. Thank you
Thanks, Linda! It wasI. Here is a link to a video depicting some of that era in Cobalt: https://cobalt.ca/visitors/history/
You guys find the most fascinating places to visit. I also like that you often search for things a little more off the beaten path. I’m usually struck by the impression that it seems as if no one else is around.
Thanks, Pete! I think that the lack of other human beings is partly because of the pandemic. I am sure that they get more tourists during normal times 🙂
Hi Margie. fascinating stuff. My grandfather (father’s side) was a prospector and in on the silver strike at Cobalt. I believe it’s recorded in one of the local histories that he held a number of local residents at gunpoint in Lake Temiskaming, while the town burned, right down to the waters’ edge. My grandmother, much younger, narrowly escaped with her life — I have a few relics from the family log cabin, which was completely consumed by the fire. I’ve never been to Cobalt, but plan to visit someday — thanks for being my eyes and ears!
Oh, wow! This is fascinating! I actually mention the fire in the next post. Do you know why he held them at gunpoint? I find the area is incredibly interesting, I think you will love it!
I love this style of blog post. You share lots of or all of the photos you took throughout a trip in a certain area and then you intersperse commentary between the photos so we know how they relate to each other. I have not yet written a post like this, but I really want to! Great post! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for your feedback, and I am so glad that you are enjoying this type of post because I like it too! Truth be told, I take way too many photos and I select only the ones that represent the essence of the place, or something unique about it that we found interesting and thought others will too. Cheers!