North Bay to Pembroke, Ontario – 23 May 2023
From North Bay we made our way to Pembroke, Ontario to visit one of our pet store customers. Bright eyes and Bushy Tails had a lovely store in Petawawa and had created a little wooden enclosure for their dog wash. After chatting with the owners and checking out the machine, we took a walk around the old town. Pembroke is situated at the confluence of the Muskrat River and the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley. It is the location of the administrative headquarters of Renfrew County.
We walked around the town admiring all the historic buildings which have been restored and are occupied as residences and businesses. The oldest building in the town was from 1850. There were several exquisite churches. We saw several beautiful murals depicting historical scenes including a fire that destroyed part of their downtown area in 1918.
Pembroke is known as “Hockey Town Canada.” It has produced three Hall of Fame players, and multiple championship teams. In 1884, Pembroke became the first town in Canada to switch on electric street lights. Pembroke established generators along the Muskrat River to produce electricity and in 1889, founded the Pembroke Electric Light Company Ltd. Pembroke continues to own their hydro, maintaining some of the cheapest rates in Canada.
