It’s Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty!
From Huntsville With Spirit and Resolve, by Susan Pryke, c2000. Grandview Resort. Date of photograph: 1911-1950.
In May 1909 the local newspaper announced that Mrs. John Cookson’s new resort (Grandview) was rapidly nearing completion. Minnie Cookson was one of the legions “of orphaned children who had been placed with Canadian families in hopes of a better life. Bush farmers in Canada often abused the system and treated their new wards as virtual slaves. After enduring long days of heavy labour and humiliation, Minnie ran away from her placement and was taken in by a kind family in Huntsville. She later met and married John Cookson, and set in motion her plans to build a summer hotel—even though her husband was not keen on the idea. She persevered and in 1911 Grandview opened for business. Advertised as the inn with the million-dollar view, Grandview thrived. Minnie bolstered the inn’s reputation with her fine cooking. All the vegetables, cream, milk, berries, lamb, and chicken came from the family’s farm.”
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Thanks for this John. My grandmother was also a Bernardo child, placed on a farm near Tweed.
Taken from excerpts of the writings of my late Friend Joe Cookson Electrician, Author & Historian 1903 – 1995
Grand View Inn Established by Minnie Margaret Cookson/Pleace 1867- 1937
Minnie Margaret Pleace came to Muskoka in 1879 from the Dr. Bernardo Orphanage in England.
Some of the orphanage children were placed in situations that treated them like slaves. In the case of Minnie the placement was at a bush farm at Grassmere on the Sinclair/Chaffey town line. After 2 years of hard slave like working she was able through the inspector of the Bernardo homes to get moved to a different family which turned out worse than the previous. She had no close friends as she was never allowed to mix with people. She took her few belongings , fled, walked into the Village of Huntsville.
While looking into a store window, she became engaged in conversation with an older lady Mrs. Froat, who took pity on Minnie and took her to her home until the Bernardo inspector came around.
Froats’s farm was located just across from the farm of John Cookson. John came to Muskoka from England in 1871 and had cleared land and established a nice little farm. In 1883 Minnie at age 16 married John age 31. Minnie , this young, timid, green, and inexperienced girl within a short time developed into a mature and capable woman, fully capable to manage her home and look after their children.
The union between farmer John Cookson, who was a very dedicated farmer and who was much engaged in enlarging his farm making it more productive, while his wife Minnie on the other hand had visions of expanding her domination and authority over more than a few cows and a flock of chickens.
At this time the tourist trade began increasing in Muskoka. One of her closest friends entered the tourist business by building one of the earliest summer resorts on Fairy Lake. That did it , the die was cast. She thought of nothing else and rarely talked about anything else. She was determined to build a summer hotel, and not a modest one either, it had to be a large one, an impressive one.
In the first place her husband John, who was dead against such fly by night notion. Quoted John ” Who in the right mind would come to this fly infested country and pay $ 7.00 per week just to sit around “unquote.
Not this Minnie, she was going to have a prominent one that folks would look up to and say ” That’s the resort that Minnie Cookson built “.
It was a terrific undertaking under the circumstances that faced Minnie Cookson, no help or co-operation from her husband, no architect drawings or plans, and very little money. She first persuaded her husband to deed to her a choice piece of land overlooking Fairy Lake, indeed a beautiful spot, where she named it ” Grand View “, a very appropriate name.
No one will ever know what she went through during the construction of her dream. She counted on her children, three boys and four girls to help out.
By the year 1910, she had most of the building up and open for business, although there was still a tremendous amount of work to be done and a huge load of debt to be paid off.
Minnie Cookson was a wonderful cook and capitalized on that reputation by advertising the fact on her brochures, ” Mother Does The Cooking “. Her second oldest daughter Rose, who remained unmarried, was a school teacher and perhaps more world wise than the others designed the brochure and coined the attraction catching motto, ” GRAND VIEW ” the inn with the million dollar view.”
During the 1920’s and early 1930’s, times improved for Minnie Cookson, she added to her resort, installing telephones, electric lights, running water and bathrooms. But regardless of how much assistance she had, she insisted on supervising the meals and the cooking.
It was in 1937 when this busy vivacious woman died in the building that she had practically built with own hands.