LONG SAULT, Ontario – The third and final Through the Lands of the Lost Villages bus tour of the year departed from the Lost Villages Museum at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 23.
The tour, which made several stops throughout the region, cost $30 per person. A complimentary barbeque dinner followed the tour at 5 p.m.
“We cover everything and anything that happened here between the 1950s,” said Jim Brownell, the tour guide and past President of the Lost Villages Historical Society.
Brownell lived through the creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway and has done extensive research on the topic.
“I love imparting the knowledge of our Lost Villages…my wife says this (museum) is my first home because I spend a lot of time down here,” he said with a chuckle.
Brownell said the tour started at Mille Roches and would then travel West to Moulinette, continuing along where the towns now exist underwater.
“At Aultsville right now, the water is so low, people can walk out on the North/South street of Aultsville and see sidewalks, see the walks right up to the foundations of where these houses would have sat,” explained Brownell.
Brownell said he often gets great reviews of the tour and passengers often wish they can spend more time in the area.
“Some of them come off that bus with a far different perspective from when they got on it,” he said. “A few people have written to me that it makes the museum a lot more meaningful by going on that bus tour and seeing the scope of the projects.”
Two previous tours took place in July and August of this year. To find out more about Lost Villages events, visit www.lostvillages.ca
