Travels with the Bear: Poland, this time!
There’s a Paris, Ontario. There’s a London, Ontario.
But who would have thought there’s a POLAND, Ontario?
Not much of a place, either. One church, about six houses. No gas station, no convenience store…nothin’! It makes Wawa look like a bustling metropolis.
Why this village even merits it’s own road sign, I have no idea. I don’t even know the history of this place, You can’t even find anything on Wikipedia.
Has anyone ever heard of this town besides me?
Anyone want to guess where this is?
(Hint: It’s not too far from Plevna and Flower Station!)
Tags: Poland, rural ontario, Small Town Ontario, teddy bear, travel bear
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September 30, 2008 at 8:41 am
Plevna?! Lordy, there’s nothing there either!
September 30, 2008 at 8:56 am
Never heard of it! I had no clue we had a Poland! Aw, Bear is so cute in the first photo! I didn’t see him in the other two, is he in them?
Was this trip recent? It looks like this time of year.
September 30, 2008 at 10:59 am
Does bear have eyes? I tried to zoom in on the photo, but I couldn’t tell (just curious).
September 30, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I don’t remember the name of the city, but one time when I was driving up the coast of California, I actually passed a city limit sign that said “Population: 13.”
Why bother?
September 30, 2008 at 5:57 pm
@Panther
Not much around Ompah, either!!!
@Steph
Heh heh. It’s not that far from you….Lanark County, about 20 klicks from Carleton Place.
@Rebecca
Yep, Junior has eyes. But they’re hidden by his shaggy fur. (You can never see them in the photos)
@Writer Dad
Hahah! 13 people. Talk about the shallow end of the gene pool.
September 30, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I was born and grew up in a city. I’ve always lived in cities. I can’t even begin to imagine living in a place like that. I would be bored to death. I’m sure it’s peaceful, though.
September 30, 2008 at 8:23 pm
@veredd
I agree…I think I’d kill myself if I had to live there.
It’s funny, though…it’s within an hour’s drive of Ottawa (over 1,000,000 people). And I don’t think many Ottawaans even know Poland exists.
October 1, 2008 at 6:50 am
Friar,
Either my comment got eaten last night or it’s sitting in moderation because of the link I put in it. I can redo it if you can’t find it…
Later,
Kelly
October 1, 2008 at 7:10 am
@Kelly
I think your comment got eaten…I don’t see it anywhere
.
October 1, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Friar,
WTF. I redid the comment, it got blasted. I redid again, it got blasted.
Okay, no link this time. Go to Yahoo (that’s what I used) or Google, type in
“Poland, Ontario” Wikipedia
like that. With Poland, Ontario in quotes. You’ll see a link for it halfway down on the right, which I’ve tried to set here in the comments three times now. Little teeny place. A bit of history there, too.
This comment was NOT worth all the effort I put into it, but I was getting stubborn about it!
Later,
Kelly
October 1, 2008 at 10:36 pm
I meant, when you click on the Wikipedia article that comes up, you’ll see a link for the town halfway down on the right. Good grief. Time to move away from the keyboard!
October 1, 2008 at 11:03 pm
@Kelly
Ohhh….I see.
I just typed in “Poland Ontario” and got all kinds of useless hits.
It was the COMMA that was missing.
Poland, Ontario.
October 1, 2008 at 11:07 pm
@Kelly
From Wikipedia:
The township comprises the communities of Arklan, Boyds, Brightside, Bullock, California, Cedardale, Clyde Forks, Clydesville, Dalhousie Lake, Elphin, Flower Station, Folger, French Line, Halls Mills, Halpenny, Hood, Hopetown, Joes Lake, Lammermoor, Lanark, Lavant, Lavant Station, Lloyd, Marble Bluff, McDonalds Corners, Middleville, Pine Grove, Poland, Quinn Settlement, Rosetta, Tatlock, Watsons Corners and White, as well as the ghost town of Herrons Mills
Heheh.
They must be talking about villages of less than 20 people, or something. Because I don’t know ANY of those towns (and over the years, I have at one point or another driven all through Eastern Ontario…inside and out).
October 3, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Friar,
Well, with 5,000+ total, and that many to split all the people among, yeah. A lot of them must be just the last oldsters standing, soon to be ghost towns. It cracked me up when I found it. Wikipedia has bloomin’ near everything!
Later,
Kelly
October 3, 2008 at 3:24 pm
@Kelly
I’m just wondering, who actually has the free time to write to Wikipedia about Poland. (Or Flower Station, for that matter?)
October 3, 2008 at 3:45 pm
‘Xactly what I was thinking.
Only a resident of Poland could have tie to write about Poland. Nuthin else to do…
October 3, 2008 at 3:47 pm
… time…
LOL I just got a message that said “You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down.” when I tried to put this message up.
November 2, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Poland made me think of the village where I now live. I tried to Google “Clarksville”, which I got from my house deed . It was one of the small villages that formed my current village near “Splat Creak”. The hits from Google are all for other places. When my house was first deeded, Clarksville consisted of a few houses, farms, churches and a store. Life must have been really simple then. This was before the railway came through and long before the “factory” was built. But there was four churches then! Probably because there was no TV or internet!
April 10, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Poland, Ontario was settled not surprisingly by a large population of polish immigrants. Wilno (further north) has a very large Polish population, in fact their tavern/bar serves perogees (i recomend them).
At the turn of the century the lanark highlands had a large mining and forestry industry and as well as a little farming which was bolstered by the Kingston and Pembroke railway which cut through the area. However the mining and lumbering died down, the rail line was pulled in 1963ish. Very little farming continues sincethe soil was never that great in the area.
Regardless The area is beautiful and steeped in history.
April 12, 2009 at 9:40 pm
@Andrew
That whole area in Eastern Ontario had rough soil and a lot of failed farms. (Especially along the Opeongo Road, in the Madawaska highlands to the West). I love the fact that you can still see some of the original 150-year old barns that are still standing, with cross-cut logs.
I LOVE the town of Wilno, and I’ve often stopped there at the pub. The perogies are unlike anything I’ve seen, they’re huge.
(In the summer, on Sundays, they have an all-you-can-eat buffet, which is awesome, especially after canoe camping and starving all weekend!)
July 23, 2009 at 3:59 pm
A fellow genealogist told me that Poland was actually named after early Scottish families with the surname PAUL.