What began as a 100-page picture book ended up being a 300-page biography.
Author Paul Kirby says “Baptiste: Stories from the Lake” dates back from the ice age to today. “It’s about people who created something out of nothing,” he says.
“It’s about how individual resorts, campsites began, but it’s also personal stories about people who worked there,” Kirby says. His favourite story is of Millionaires Island – formally known as Herschel Island. He details the history of the island from when it was Crown land to when it was purchased by Niagara Light and Power to what it is today.
Kirby says another important part of the book will be the detailing of the indigenous population. “We haven’t really covered in any of our local books a detailed of the Baptiste family and the hunters and the other indigenous families and the importance of them to the area,” he says.
The book will retail for $29 online and at Ashlie’s Books in Bancroft on July 1st.