Little Egypt (ghost town)

On Highway 9 about 18 km east of Kincardine in Bruce County lies the Egypt Side Road. It leads south off the main road, running through forest and a couple of farm fields for perhaps 2 km and then makes a sharp turn to the east before coming to an end at a solitary farmhouse. It(a)s a pretty empty and forlorn sort of place, lying as it does on the edge of the great Greenock swamp. Along the road, about where it curves to the east, is this lonely little log house.

Norman Robertson, who wrote the first definitive History of the County Of Bruce, described an area in Kincardine Township that the locals had nicknamed Egypt. According to his source, a Mrs. John Reekie, the name came from a Mr. John Bell, who was the pathmaster of the 10th Concession east of the 20th Sideroad (a pathmaster is a man responsible for the maintenance of a particular road). Bell was a real slave-driver and everyone called him "the Pharaoh" and "the King of Egypt". From this, the area that he was responsible for came to be called "Egypt". I believe the Egypt Sideroad marked the east end of his territory - the beginning of "Egypt".

I haven(a)t been down here for a number of years, so I don(a)t know what kind of condition the house is in now.