The beautiful summer weather has finally arrived in my area and I am very excited to be able to go on some cemetery adventures once again. I have many road trips planned out for the upcoming weekends and my summer vacation. I’ve mapped out lots of fun sightseeing spots and new cemeteries to visit, that are surprisingly close to home. It should make for some fun road trip stories. So while I continue to plan for those, I thought it might be fun to share a road trip adventure from last year.

Last October, in 2021, I took advantage of some time off and took a little road trip to Manitoulin Island. Manitoulin Island, or the island as some locals call it, is a large island in Lake Huron. It’s also home to Canada’s first European settlement, the town of Manitowaning, and the historic Anishinaabe settlement.¹ It’s a beautiful place to explore the outdoors and of course, cemeteries.

My mother came with me on this trip and got to experience what a real cemetery road trip is like. We visited 9 cemeteries that day. Not all of them were located on the island though. We left fairly early in the morning, and after stopping for our Tim Horton’s coffee, we were on our way. We stopped at 5 cemeteries on our way to and from the island, while visiting 4 cemeteries directly on the Island. 

We weren’t very lucky with the weather on our trip as it was quite rainy for the majority of the day, but it did make for some nice photos. Of the 9 cemeteries that we’re on my itinerary, we only ended up stopping at 7 of them, due to some bouts of heavy rain. But, it worked out as we happened to find 2 more cemeteries that were not on my list when the sun did decide to show itself. One of those cemeteries was in Cold Springs and turned out to be a very nice find. It’s technically a graveyard because sitting in the middle of it is a century-old log Presbyterian Church, that is dated A.D. 1887. The building was locked, but we could look inside the little one-room church through some windows.  

We stopped for lunch at Main St. Express in Kagawong. They have a great little drive-thru set-up. We brought our lunches to the waterfront, just across from the Old Mill Heritage Centre. We took advantage of some nice covered picnic tables. It was quiet on the waterfront, as the tourist season was at its end. 1 or 2 couples were walking around, enjoying the sights. If we had gone during peak summer hours, the waterfront would have been bustling. I think we went a good time, even though it was rainy. There was another advantage to having our lunch on the waterfront—it was also next to Kagawong Cedars Cemetery. After our lunch, we took some time to visit that cemetery and take some photos. 

Kagawong is also home to the Kagawong River Trail. It’s a beautiful trail, running beside the river’s edge the whole time. There are some lovely sculptures scattered throughout the trail as well. These sculptures and heritage plaques were installed as part of the Billings Canada 150 project.² The crown jewel of this trail is Bridal Veil falls! In nicer weather, you can walk behind the falls, and even take a dip.

Kagawong River Trail and Bridal Veil falls, Manitoulin Island ON ©2021

Because tourist season was done, we did miss out on a few things, like visiting the Old Mill Heritage Centre and the Manitoulin Chocolate Works. I was disappointed when we found the doors locked to the chocolate shop. I will make sure to stop in there the next time we are on the island. There were some things we did get a chance to visit though, like the East Bluff Lookout, that was somewhat close to Gordon Cemetery in Gore Bay. The East Bluff Lookout offers some amazing views, and we also happened to see some wildlife; a red squirrel and some white-tail deer.

Even though I did have to cut my time short at a couple of the cemeteries due to heavy rain, I would say it was a great trip. We enjoyed the beautiful fall scenery, ate some delicious food, and visited some lovely cemeteries. I enjoy exploring the island and look forward to making another trip out there this summer to explore more of it. 

Have you visited Manitoulin Island? I would love to hear about your visit in the comments.

Thanks for reading! 

---

References:

1. An Insider’s Guide to Magical Manitoulin Island | Keep Exploring
2. About Bridal Veil Falls | Explore Manitoulin