rest there.
Making the trip to Grand
Bend was an adventure in
itself: campers and cottagers
arrived by train to either
the Exeter or Parkhill
Station, bringing their
necessities in sturdy trunks.
Usually intending to stay for
a good part of the summer,
| they brought victrolas, mats
to hook, folding chairs, food
lockers and ice chests,
washtubs and oil lamps, which
had to be off-loaded at the
Exeter Station and then
hauled by 'stage' to the
lake. For decades, the horse-
drawn stage was a wagon with
benches and a light canvas
| top. That service was
motorized in 1910, when the
Guenther family began
providing twice-weekly
service to Grand Bend with a
new autobus, for fifty cents.
Tourism boomed with the
arrival of the automobile.
Working families from across
western Ontario could now
| arrive at the beach for the
day, or the weekend. With
better roads, and ready
access to gasoline fuel for
the cars, Grand Bend
blossomed as a summertime
playground. It boasted three
hotels, one with running
water, an ice cream parlour,
bakeshop, a bowling alley,
|