AYLEN LAKE continued from page 15
end at Opeongo Lake in present-day Algonquin Park. Surveyed by Robert Bell in
1851–52, The Opeongo Line, as the road has been popularized in myth and song, can be divided into three distinct sections. Starting in 1854, the most southerly section was constructed from Farrell’s Landing on the Ottawa River. From here, it ran south through Renfrew until it met Highway 132 just past the Dragonfly golf course, continuing on to Dacre. This more serene section of the trail links the communities of Renfrew, Ferguslea, Shamrock and Dacre. Just north of the Highway 132/41
junction, the road continues north- northwest on Renfrew County Road 64 through the “ghost-towns” of Esmonde and Clontarf until it reaches Foymount (formerly known
as Madrid) on Highway 512. Each has a church and old cemetery with gravestones dating to circa 1815 and provide us with a clue to the names of the hardy souls that ventured into this area and called it home. From Foymount, the road
continues west on 512 until it reaches the junction of Renfrew County Road 66 just north of Brudenell. The road proceeds in this direction through Hopefield, after which it veers west onto the “Opeongo Road” until it exits onto Highway 60 near Yantha Lake, just east of Barry’s Bay.
Although Bell completed his
survey to the south end of Opeongo Lake, the road was never constructed that far. In fact, it was the intention of the government to have the road continue on to Georgian Bay. By the 1880s its construction was
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halted north of Barry’s Bay because the government then realized there was little hope of enticing settlers into an unsustainable rock-infested landscape. The lands were more suitable for tilling rocks and stones
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