The Galway Road Around Crystal Lake and West Ewan

By Guy Scott

At lot 16 in the 13^th concession, the Galway Road jogged north one concession to avoid Crystal Lake and the rough land on its north shore. The road continued east along the line between concessions 13 and 14 more or less in a straight line for several miles before it starts a meandering course on its way to White Lake. Basically, the Galway Road followed the better farmland in these concessions. The land gets progressively rougher and more unsuited to farming as the road moves east of Mount Irwin, but that didn’t stop the pioneers from trying to farm. The only settlers east of Mount Irwin in the 12^th concession were the Collins family, who were very early settlers (1858) between the Gully Road and Back Bay on Crystal Lake.

The lots along Back Bay on Crystal Lake were very rough and unsuited to farming. But they were admirably suited to cottaging and in the 1970s, lots 21 and 22 in the 12^th concession were turned into a cottage subdivision called Back Bay Estates. Approximately 70 cottaging lots were laid out among the “rolling” hills north of Back Bay. Access was gained to the lake via a common boat launch picturesquely located at the bottom of a steep hill.

The east side of the Galway Road (lots 16 and 17, concession 13) was occupied by the Pearson family. Originally, Sam Pearson had settled along the Bobcaygeon Road near the corner of the Crystal Lake Road, with his father-in-law William Casey. The next generation of the Pearson family moved to the Galway Road, and after abandoning their first lot (it was too low and wet) they moved to the higher ground. Pioneer farmers hated low, wet fields and preferred higher ground; stones or no stones! The family has lived there for six generations and still occupy the property.

The next two lots (18 & 19) were settled by John Beckett. He had been a weaver back in England and he plied this trade at least part of the time in the area. The Becketts stayed for a generation, before moving West in the great Ewan migration. Next door to the Becketts were the Coffey family. Michael Coffey occupied lot 20 as early as the 1870s, and the family remained on the farm for several generations. The Coffey farm passed into the hands of Patti and Bruce Fleury in the 1960s and they operated a summer camp here for many years.

North of this section of the Galway Road in concession 14 were a number of settlers who accessed their property from a westward extension of the 14^th concession road. A huge swamp drowned much of the 14^th concession, the settlers starting at lot 13 with the William Dolan family. The Dolans had come straight from Ireland and were friends in the old country of the McConnels who settled further along the road. Of course, the Dolans’ first stop was at their friends: The McConnels. But the McConnels were Protestants and the Dolans were Catholics; and this created a bit of a scandal in Galway. The McConnels lived in the ‘Protestant’ settlement of Ewan. So, the locals from the Catholic settlement of Mount Irwin persuaded the Dolans to take up residence a little further away from Ewan, among their fellow Catholics at Mount Irwin. The two families remained friends: Location and religion were not everything. Thomas O’Neil settled on the next three lots (16, 17, 18). Edward O’Neil succeeded his father on the farm. At lot 17, the Reid Road, which originated in Kinmount, met the Galway Road. This winding road was a forced road that twisted through concessions 14, 15, 16, and 17 joining the village of Kinmount with a few scattered settlers in these concessions. It was once a well-maintained road, but today is closed in the middle and only open on both ends.