Forty-eight years ago I drove from the Mayfair apartment building where I was then living on the corner of Metcalfe Street and MacLaren Street in downtown Ottawa to the Mississippi Golf Club in the Village of Appleton where I dined with Messrs. Galligan & Sheffield, Barrs. &c. With what I imagine to have been the sanction of Senator George McIraith QC, Counsel, Macdonald, Affleck, Barrs. &c. at 100 Sparks Street, Ottawa where I had completed my Articles after graduating from Osgoode Hall in Toronto, I was hired by Messrs. Galligan & Sheffield in nearby Almonte to fill the gap left upon the retirement of Raymond A. Jamieson QC. The club house (both ancient and restored) of the golf club has forever since been part of my life.  Though I probably entered the golf club for the first time from Wilson Street off Hwy#29 (through Carleton Place) my preferred route of access to the club from Almonte where I have lived since that day has always been along the bucolic Appleton Side Road.

Initially my most frequent outings on the Appleton Side Road were upon my bicycle.  The Arcadian road afforded an ideal passage for an early morning jaunt in the summer. Mostly the road is flat, the exception being a slight incline from Hamilton Road (at the bottom of the hill) to River Road at the crest. If memory serves, Hamilton Road represents the road laid out on the original county maps from 1867 (or before) every fifth lot to enable people lawfully to cross the 200 acre parcels from concession to concession. This is not to be confused with the Old Almonte Road (which also crosses the Appleton Side Road more closely to the Town of Almonte) because the Old Almonte Road is probably a Quarter Sessions Road (laid out by the county officials as a prescribed or “Forced” road of convenience but not otherwise having any correspondence with the original 200 acre parcels of land on the County map). As the name implies, the Quarter Sessions Roads were the product of quarterly meetings of county representatives. Apart from those two “side roads” there is no other interference with the farms along the Appleton Side Road. The Appleton Side Road is likely itself a designated road which was part of the original concessions on the county map.

It naturally follows that over the years I became acquainted with the sprawling farms along the Appleton Side Road.  In particular was the mansion located at the end of a long drive as one approaches the turn from the Appleton Side Road onto River Road where the North Lanark Regional Museum is (once again, the ancient relic having been restored). Years afterwards I learned that the farm property at the end of the drive belonged to Dr. David Atak and his wife Sandy née Robertston (daughter of George Burke Robertson QC).

Nearby on the opposite side of the road was Jake Lubbers’ farm, a portion of which I believe was donated to the Township of Ramsay as a baseball diamond.

Proceeding down the hill were the grand homes along Hill Street and adjacent Appleton Bay Park. The home belonging to Michael O’Malley conveniently enables him to park (at the front of the property) his sea plane which he and his wife Debbie enjoy flying about the County.

After turning onto Wilson Street to cross the bridge over the Mississippi River, the first turn to the right was a private road (today called Old Mill Lane) leading to the home of the woollen merchant family of Jim Collie. Jim was one of the first people whom I met in Almonte when I dined at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C. James Newton QC who was then Crown prosecutor for the County of Lanark and who was subsequently elevated to the bench of the Superior Court of Justice of the Province of Ontario.

There are a number of conspicuous horse farms along the Appleton Side Road. Separating those dedicated farms are huge fields of towering corn stalks in the autumn, reflecting a glint of ornate green across the distant sunny views.

The Mississippi River runs parallel the Appleton Side Road from beginning to end at Hyw#7 where (after notably traversing Cavanagh Road) it becomes Cemetery Side Road. The river is not enormously visible but just enough to tempt an allure and to complement the views. Predominantly I preoccupy myself with the visions from Appleton Village to the Town of Almonte. The land is flat and expansive. Of course my attention upon my driving prohibits me seeing all there is to see but nonetheless the sensation is always uplifting.