Get Real: The accidental tourist of the Greenock Swamp

So, there I was, relaxing during the intermission of a play at the Stratford Festival Theatre, when I received a call from a friend, asking if I wanted tickets to tour the Greenock Swamp.

Now, I'm not sure how you like to spend your free time, but touring the Greenock Swamp wasn't even on my bucket list, let alone anything I would consider doing in this lifetime or any other.

However, I checked with David, and we decided, okay, sure, why not?

Which was why, Saturday, Sept. 7, at 2 p.m., found us along with 30 other people, gathered in the basement of the historic Mary Immaculate Church in Chepstow, listening to Shannon Wood of the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority (SVCA) talk about the “Legends of the Greenock Swamp.”

An engaging tour guide, Wood described the swamp as a vast and extraordinary wetland located in Bruce County on the Teeswater River, a tributary of the Saugeen River. It is the single largest forested wetland in southern Ontario at about 20,000 acres.

Currently, the SVCA owns about 8,000 acres of this swamp, with the rest under private ownership, and it is home to a multitude of plants and animals, including 22 species of orchids, and 11 species of birds of prey.

However, this isn't the most exciting part about the swamp. Its rich and colourful history is ever more interesting; and that began with Henry Cargill.

Cargill bought a great deal of land in the Greenock Swamp in 1879, and made a lot of money by harvesting valuable white pine from it. He had canals built in the swamp, making it easier to haul logs from the miry depths.

The lucrative white pine industry turned Cargill into a logging baron and he hired hundreds of men to work in the swamp and in the mills, as well as building homes for the workers and their families. From his efforts, came the Villages of Chepstow and Cargill.

Hence, the tour stopped at the Chepstow Inn Bed and Breakfast, owned and operated by Kym Hutcheon, to enjoy the beautifully-restored building and enjoy a little wine-tasting.

We were greeted by a moose head hanging on the wall, and were told this was “Chepster” who used to grace the wall of the old Chepstow Inn. It was sold to a fellow down the street who had stored it in his shed. The regulars asked if “Chepster” could return to the inn, so it is now on loan here. It took three men to hang the moose head back on the wall.

From there, the school bus tour headed to the swamp where we took a short walk on the newly-constructed floating boardwalk system – which is an experience all on its own. It feels as if you are walking on one of those inflatable bouncy castle surfaces, but a bit more stable. It's rather eerie to realize that the swamp is virtually bottomless and the boardwalk sits on the bog.

We were greeted at the end of the boardwalk by formal waiters, serving refreshments, and we had a beautiful view of Schmidt Lake.

The next stop was the Village of Cargill with many historic structures, all built by Henry Cargill. There's a cute little train that will take you on a tour of all these buildings, and the village now boasts a visitors' centre and a mercantile, named after Henry's wife, Margaret. The mercantile features local arts and crafts.

We walked a few feet down from the shops to a large green area where Cargill's house once sat. This lavish home was built in the late 1800s and burned down in the early 1920s.

The tour wrapped up back at the church in Chepstow where we were greeted by “Margaret Cargill” and enjoyed a delicious full-course meal, prepared by the Catholic Women's League.

It was an amazing adventure and well worth the trip to the Greenock Swamp.

The SVCA also offers a “Bootlegging Lore” tour, which takes in the infamous prohibition era and the production of Swamp Whiskey in the Greenock Swamp. Also included on this tour, is a visit to the Walkerton Jail which operated for 144 years where you can retrace the footsteps of the famous inmates and learn about the incredible escape artists.

Both tours run from May to October, with dates for 2020 yet to be set. For more information, check the website at: www.saugeenconservation.com/ca_details.php?page=greenocktours

And thanks very much to our friends who sent us down the "road not taken." It was fascinating!

Ah, life in the fast lane!