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A Spotlight on Manitoulin Living: December '05: Columnist
The internet has helped Steve Maxwell, a Toronto Star columnist, savour a life on Manitoulin.
December
2005 (Evansville) -- On August 20th, 1985, I’d already spent three years
looking for a special piece of property in the country, a place where I
could build a home, raise a family and spend the rest of my life. No other
spot I’d visited until then seemed right, but five minutes after crossing
the swing bridge in Little Current, I knew my search was over. As I drove up
MacLean’s Mountain Road for a look, I thought to myself: “somewhere on this
island is a place for me.” I still feel that way now.
That was almost 20-years ago, and since then my wife and I have been blessed
on our 90-acre property. We now own a stone-and-timber home, four
Island-born kids, and my career pays for everything we need. And we do all
this at the end of a tiny dead-end road in a quiet corner of Manitoulin.
Yes, such things are still possible.
To be honest, I’m a little reluctant to tell you about our life. If
Manitoulin Island gets too popular, I’m worried we’ll lose some of the
qualities that make this place so special. And make no mistake, it is
special.
But on the other hand, I also know that any out-of-the-way location like
ours needs to have good people with an appreciation for preserving and
enhancing the community. Perhaps that’s where you come in. I hope so.
If you’re looking for an authentically rural life, and don’t need regular
visits to name-brand restaurants and big city malls, then Manitoulin is
definitely worth a look. It’s not for everyone, but now more than ever, the
possibilities for making a good living here have never been better. At
least, that’s been my experience.
When I came to Manitoulin, I was 22-years-old. I didn’t know for sure how
I’d earn a living. But since then I’ve developed a career writing and taking
photographs. And as unlikely as this sounds, this work let’s me support my
family without ever leaving the house. And the Internet is the magic bullet.
Email and websites allow anyone to do business seamlessly with anyone else
in the world. That sounds like wishful thinking, but it’s true. The web
takes the stumbling block of geography out of the equation, enabling people
living outside cities to plug into lucrative, interesting work anywhere in
the world. You don’t need to be a digital entrepreneur to earn a living on
Manitoulin, but it sure helps. I regularly collaborate with people in
Toronto, Ottawa, Kansas and Las Vegas. None of these clients were accessible
to me when I first signed my name on a Manitoulin deed. Who’d even heard of
the Internet back in 1985? But access to interesting work is definitely
available, and you don’t need to fight traffic to find it. Think of the
Internet like a squirt of oil for rural communities.
But life is more than just work, and so is Manitoulin. Where else will you
find secluded freshwater coastlines alongside efficient access to world
markets; picturesque rural villages offering high-speed telecommunications;
a peaceful blend of First Nation and European cultures; world-class
salmon rivers
in a region that also supports a vibrant commercial fishery?
Did you see the last movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy? Remember the
scene when Frodo and Sam are returning to the beauty of the Shire after
their grueling ordeal with the ring? Manitoulin Island isn’t perfect, but it
does have something of the quality of the Shire about it. That’s what I
hoped to find back in 1985, and it’s still here now.
See Steve's work at:
Canadian Home Workshop Articles
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