Virginiatown
Virginiatown
is a village of approximately 800 people just a tad west of the Quebec border
on the northeastern-most shore of Larder Lake.
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Built in the shadow of the great Mount Cheminis, the area known as Virginiatown is comprised of three different villages - Kearns, North Virginiatown, and Virginiatown proper. I would have done separate pages for all three but a) I don't have a tonne of info, and b) I'm not sure where one village ends and the next one begins on a map. I think North Virginiatown is north of Highway 66, Virginiatown is south of it, and Kearns is just a kilometre or two east.
Virginiatown is actually much closer to Rouyn than Timmins or any other larger centres in Ontario. Therefore, (and I might be wrong, but) I'm pretty sure that V-town, as it is affectionately called, is a largely francophone community which had its heyday with the northeastern Ontario mining boom in the early half of the 20th century.
Virginiatown sprung up with the expansion of the mineral rush which began in Cobalt in the early 1900s and drove north founding towns like Kirkland Lake and Larder Lake. V-town was famous for the Kerr Addison Mine, which at one time was the richest gold deposit in North America. The gold from the first Canadian 5 ounce gold coin was mined from the Kerr Addison. Today, a coin monument stands to commemorate this Virginiatown achievement.
Like
all boom towns, this had to come to an end eventually. The Kerr Addison Mine
shut down in the 1990s, and while there is still exploration and some smaller
gold ventures in the area, Virginiatown is pretty sleepy nowadays. Check out
the link to Louie Palu's photos below, it contains some fantastic shots of
mining life in Larder Lake and Virginiatown mines.
There
is a boat launch to Larder Lake, and you can access nearby Labyrinth Lake
where you can catch northern pike, bass, and walleye. According to google,
there is a ceramic shop in town as well. You can visit the Virginiatown Heritage
House for a history of the town and its mining past, or hike the Heritage
Gold Trail to view underground mining equipment.
Mount Cheminis is in my opinion the coolest thing in the area. Shooting up from the trees like bum of a thick marker, it rises majestically above V-town and is visible from Highway 66. You can hike up the summit from local trails. Check out some of the nice pictures in the links below. Andre emailed to let me know that Mount Cheminis (known as Mont Chaudron in French) is techhnically in Québec.
Services in town include gas (Guy's Service Station), a small grocery store, and the usual small-town-northern-Ontario stuff like the Bear Creek Bait and Tackle shop and a curling club. Chez Lucie is a drug store, convenience store, and video rental in one, and Armando's "Le Bar" is a local diner and watering hole. The Cheminis Lodge provides bed and breakfast facilities and lodging, as does the Hilltop Inn.
The only time I drove through Virginiatown was en route to Rouyn. I was on a schedule, so I stopped to take a picture with the big coin and that's it. Please help me add to this page - send personal anecdotes, history, photos, and advice to info (at) highway11 (dot) ca.
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Post your experiences in Virginiatown below.