After my boat tour was over and the farmers' market finished, I took a stroll through the village of Rosseau itself. I stopped at the antique store and when I browsed through a shoebox of mixed postcards was ecstatic to find a vintage one of Paignton House, the predecessor to The Rosseau, on Fish Rock, something I've never seen in any photos.
[Credit to Natural Colour Cards by A & M Workshop, Pickering, Ont.]
Oh man I love that photo of Paignton House. My family stayed here every summer, in late June, from 1964 until 1973. I know it sounds funny today but one of my most fond memories was "diddling on the veranda." Now before you think that I was a young perv, that was what you did with a string with a ring tied at the bottom end and the top end nailed at the mid-point between the lodge and the corner end of the porch post. You'd sit up by the lodge on the porch rail and try to hook the ring on a nail half way up the porch post. It took a while to get the arm swing down but once I did I could hook it every time. I'm smiling at the memories. Too bad the lodge burned down and it closed. I went back there as an adult and it was derilect, abandon, and in total disrepair. Broke my heart. And now I see it's been sold again. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and sharing your story.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I've never heard that name before for your game however playing darts we used to "diddle for the middle", where we attempted to land our dart the closest to the bullseye to determine who would start first, so I see a similarity there.
I'm hoping someday my own kids will look back and smile at the memories from the times they spend here too.
Thank you for providing some Paignton House history and stay tuned for any changes with the new owners.
And feel free to share more of your memories.
Thanks for the post card, we spent our honey moon at Paighton House in June 1974. We are just wrapping up a three day stay at the new
ReplyDeleteRosseau Resort
Thank you for your comment.
ReplyDeleteI wished I had known you were staying earlier. I work at The Rosseau and worked over the last three nights, and would have loved the opportunity to meet you and hear about your times here, then and now.
That postcard was instantly recognizable, we had stayed in the lower level of the building shown by the water. The boy in the picture could have been me, we vacationed there several times in the early 1960's. My grandparents would vacation there yearly, giving my grandmother a true vacation. I spent a lot of time along the shore and would fish in the boathouse, which was left of the photo. I remember the large dining room at meals and the golf course, which I believe was behind the main building. Thanks for posting this.
ReplyDelete1971 I was there for our honeymoon too.
ReplyDeleteThe best place then. They wake us up with a bell every
morning for our breakfast. Good old times. Its not the same any more. Its sad !
We went to Paignton House 6 or 7 times in my childhood. I remember the diving board at the end of the dock and the pool. And grape Fanta in the soda machine at the entrance of the golf course ($.25). Oh, and a treasure hunt and "pow wow pow wow".
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