Top 3 Abandoned Places In Grey Highlands

There are so many abandoned places in Grey Highlands! This is a list of the top three abandoned places in Grey Highlands. Browse through all abandoned places in Grey Highlands

1. Talisman Ski Resort

Talisman has been abandoned for almost a year now, and is quickly falling into a state of disrepair.
Easily accessible (I drove in). Many people around - hikers, cross-country skiiers, dog walkers, etc.

Bidding for the main resort area of the Talisman property (150 Talisman Mountain Drive) closed at 3 p.m. on Monday, August 12. The minimum bid was set at $2.39 million to cover taxes owing on the property.

This is the second time Krueger has made the exact same announcement, as the first tax sale closed with no bids for the main property on March 4.

Other secondary properties, however, were sold at that time.

Grey Highlands Mayor Wayne Fitzgerald said he was disappointed the municipality received no bids in the second tax sale.

"But that's life," he said.

Monday's outcome was not what CAO Dan Best expected.

"I am surprised we didn't receive any subsequent bids," said Best. "In terms of next steps, staff will meet to assess options and make recommendations to council on the matter."

So the old Mountain Resort remains in limbo once more.

Arson on the same date...

Grey County OPP received a call for mischief to the property at 9:20 p.m. on Monday, August 12 after five males were observed entering the property. The caller heard glass breaking.

Police arrived on scene and detected smoke on the second floor. Grey Highlands Fire Department attended the fire, and extinguished it quickly. There was minimal damage to the building.

MacabreKiss: Built in 1963, the former Talisman Ski Resort quickly became a beloved destination for both beginner and intermediate skiiers. Once the largest ski resort in Ontario and one of the first Ontario venues for snowboarding. The resort even held international snowboarding competitions.

In the early 2000's Talisman was unable to remain competitive with nearby Blue Mountain and began to lose money, by 2011 they officially declared bankruptcy.

The owner vanished, leaving 200+ acres and millions of dollars in unpaid taxes. The site sat vacant until 2013 when an auction was held by the township to pay off some of the outstanding debt (which totaled $2.3M).

After 2 failed attempts at selling the property for back-taxes, the lot eventually sold to Brian Ellis in 2015 for $1.8M. The plans included retiring the ski hill, restoring the buildings and launching a golf course with the goal being to reopen in 2016.

The buildings were stripped to the studs while a club house for the golf course was built. The course was open briefly but has since shut down.

As of the summer of 2020 the entire property is once again sitting vacant.

2. Eugenia Falls - Ghost Town

Located in an area of Grey County, settlement began from the 1850s through the 1880s. Early visitors were awed by the sight of Eugenia Falls, calling it one of Canada's most beautiful locations. The town was named after Princess Eugene, the wife of Emperor Napoleon. Its population grew to about 200. It had several mills, general stores, a carriage factory, blacksmiths, coopers, shoemakers, carpenters, a Presbyterian and Methodist church, and a school.

The railways never came to Eugenia Falls and eventually the town began to decline. The mills, stores and shops closed down and people began to move away. But it never became a complete ghost town.

3. Blantyre Ghost Town

James Paterson arrived at the Northern edge of Euphrasia Township (about 15 km south of Meaford on Cty Rd 112) in 1848. He along with seven other pioneering families established their farms nearby Hoerser Creek (since renamed Paterson Creek) a tributary of the Minniehill creek.

In 1856 Paterson built the first grist and saw mills in the Northern portion of Euphrasia Twp. Originally a small workers village of about a dozen wooden homes were built around the mill. The village took on the name of Patersons Mills.

A dairy was established by Fred Schomtz, who later added a cheese works around 1861.

Sometime in the early 1860's James Paterson became postmaster as well as a mill owner. It was around this time that the village name was changed to Blantyre. Todd Burns, the local blacksmith, suggested the name of his birthplace in Scotland, which was called Blantyre.

Paterson went on to add a woolen and carding mill in the late 1860's.

By this time, Blantyre had become a busy village containing three stores, a barrel maker, mills, blacksmith, tinsmith, two stage coaches (one to Meaford the other to Owen Sound), Orson Wilright's Tavern/Hotel, a school, and a wagon maker.

With the arrival of the railway in the 1870's, the population of approximately 150 residents began to decline slowly. The railway constructed a small station half a mile south of the village. The Hooper Grain company built a small elevator nearby to cash in on the small prosperous grain trade in the area. While it didn't compare with those western elevators, it carried a maximum capacity of 10,000 bushels.

There were three churches in the village. The Catholic and Anglican churches were built around 1863-67, while a Seventh Day Adventist church was built a quarter mile out south of town. It was later moved to Temple Hill, a small settlement a little further south of Blantyre around 1900. The Seventh Day Adventist Church burnt in 1954. The Catholic Church was eventually removed stone by stone to a nearby farm and reassembled as a foundation for a barn.

All the postmasters in town were Patersons. Alfred Charles was the last post master in town. The post office closed sometime between 1920-1924.

Thank you to Gordon Paterson for contributing the information and photographs. Gordon spent much of his childhood (from 1942-1957) in Blantyre. He recalls visiting the charred remains of the church the day after the fire as well as being told tales of the village by his grandfather. His great great grandfather was James Paterson. Gordon left the family fam in 1957, and it was sold in 1964.

Today there isn't much there except for a few buildings at the intersection, and some mill ruins. Most of these buildings date back to the community's heyday in the 1860's.