Did you Know About Milk Tokens?

Found at an Etsy shop with this information:

From the late 19th century through the 1960s and 1970s, dairy distributors of Canada issued tokens as monetary substitutes for convenient home delivery. They also served as advertising.

Kemptville, I think, is now part of Barrie, Ontario. So a bit more local history for Ontario. I didn’t know there were tokens like this. But, I do remember milk still being delivered when I was a kid living in what is now the eastern edge of Scarborough, Ontario. It used to be Port Union, but not known by the name of the original town any more.

Steve Skafte – Poet and Explorer of Roads, Cemeteries and Old Places in Nova Scotia

I found Steve Skafte (YouTube video posts) today from a post on the CBC site. He was interviewed about his photographs and research of abandoned roads in Nova Scotia.

When he was a kid, his bedroom walls were covered in maps. He was fascinated with exploring Nova Scotia, so once he travelled all the roads he could track down in his community, his attention shifted to the roads that weren’t clearly marked.

The province categorizes these roads as K-class, meaning the roadways are owned by the province but not maintained and rarely used by the public. Skafte thinks most of the roads, which range from a few hundred metres to about five kilometres in length, haven’t been kept up for 50 to 60 years.

Before going out to explore, Skafte carefully studies property lines online to see where the abandoned roads may be. He then puts on a pair of hiking boots, grabs his camera and heads out.

Quoted from CBC – Meet the man mapping out Nova Scotia’s abandoned roads.

His books of poetry, photographs and history are available at his Etsy shop, Photofables. The books and calendars about exploring the old roads and places seem to sell out quickly.

Visit the groups he runs on Facebook:
Abandoned Nova Scotia
Abandoned Roads of Nova Scotia

Poetry with photographs.

Fran’s Restaurant in Barrie – Demolished

Fran’s had been left empty for years. No one bought it or leased it and this year it was demolished. The Fran’s restaurant chain is still around, mainly in Toronto. But, not in Barrie any more.

Maclean’s Magazine List of Canadian Ghost Towns to See

Maclean’s posted – 11 ghost towns to see before they’re completely gone, in 2012. So it is not a fresh list. There were two in Ontario. I think there are two Nicholson, Ontario’s. I will look into both of these and see what I can find out.

Manhole Covers as Urbex Fashion

Looking for something really urbex to wear? Consider a print of a manhole cover. This site has a project creating prints from manhole (sewer) covers. There are events and workshops. You could make your own.

Raubdruckerin uses drain covers as a printing module for textiles and paper. By pressing a garment on a drain cover coated with paint, the surface is being transferred as a graphical pattern onto the desired object. After first experiments in 2006 Raubdruckerin is meanwhile printing in streets all over the world. Currently the collection shows objects from more than 20 cities.

Source: raubdruckerin

My Ontario Rural Photos Were Posted to WebUrbanist

Even though the links to the photos (from Flickr) are broken now, the post is still up on the site, with the photos. It was nice to be mentioned and have my photos shown. I’m working on reposting my photos here. There are a lot of them.