Last year, when Arlene Stafford-Wilson wrote her first book of reminiscences, the reaction in the community confirmed that people wanted local history. She realized, from an annual search for local history books for her brother’s birthday gift, that it was difficult to find local stories. In the preface of the new book she asks, “Why weren’t there any books about the places and people we knew best? Where were the stories about our little corner of the world – Perth, Balderson, Lanark, Carleton Place and Almonte?”
Stafford-Wilson decided that she would write the local stories herself and after a year the result was her latest book, Lanark County Kid – My Travels Up and Down the Third Line. The table of contents highlights the focus of the book: Lanark Sweaters – Soft as a Kitten; Balderson Cheese – Craving the Curds; Autumn Afternoon in Almonte; A Bonny Lass on the Scotch Line; Hockey Night in Perth – Angels with Blue Wings; Stomping in Ompah; Walter Cameron – Forging in Fallbrook; and more.
Stafford-Wilson said, “Lanark County Kid is for people who want to reminisce and learn about the area where they grew up.”
“It’s for people like my brother who will know that the Balderson factory is about halfway between Perth and Lanark and that it wasn’t always owned by a big corporation, but was once a plain wooden building where they just made cheese. It’s for the people who know that Gore Street is the main drag in Perth and used to be ‘the place’ to show off your muscle car as you toured around on a Saturday night. It’s for all the folks that couldn’t find a book about our small communities about an hour’s drive west of Ottawa, and especially for anyone who’s ever been a kid growing up in Lanark County. This is for you.”
Lanark County Kid and her first book, Recipes and Recollections, are available through her website www.staffordwilson.com or at Mill Street Books in Almonte, The Book Nook in Perth and The Bookworm in Perth.
