Photo essay

By Jeremy Roger Marentette

Two photos beside each other of the back of the Toronto campus of York University. The river is in the foreground, with a few trees and bushes in shades of yellow and brown, with a building visible up a small slope in the background. The two photos are almost identical but the one on the right has more saturated colors.

The Front Cover

The front cover of the collection consists of two photographs taken on the campus of York University, Toronto, at dusk. They are not copies of the same image. Each was taken at two separate moments of time with slightly different levels of exposure. My goal is to evoke a feeling of balance and symmetry through repetition while visually representing the notion of change.

Blue and white highway sign on wooden stakes. The sign reads: "Stoney Point, Pointe-Aux-Roches, Bienvenue - Welcome, Population 600."

The Contents

The story begins in Stoney Point, Ontario, a small community on the southern shore of Lake St. Clair. There are only five ways to enter or leave Stoney Point, six if you count the lake. One route, Highway 77, leads past a massive granary that serves as a depot and distributor of agricultural products produced by local farmers. Highway 77 runs north of Essex County to Leamington in the south. Lake St. Clair to Lake Eerie in thirty minutes.

A photo of four white and beige cottages in the distance under a large blue sky. There is a dirt road running beside them and a patch of grass on the far left side beside the road.

A large rectangular building with two levels in black and dark grey. The lower rectangle is larger with a smaller black rectangular floor on top. There is a flag pole with a Canadian flag in front, a narrow road running horizontally and a section of dirt in the foreground.

Take 77 north as far as you go, turn west and go about 500 metres. On the south side of the road, away from the lake, is a small cottage set far back on a massive lot. It was owned by Raymond Knister’s uncle, John Goatbe, and it is the same cottage that Raymond rented on the weekend of August 29, 1932. The property communicates a feeling of nostalgic claustrophobia. Enveloped by a maze of pre-fabricated homes and subdivided farmland, the cottage that once provided an escape from city and small-town life has now become part of the town. A public works building now stands adjacent to the property, accommodating the municipal expansion that is cannibalizing this cultural landmark.

A photo of a fenced grey pumping station on the left, a narrow concrete pathway in between it and a garage of a house and its driveway. The foreground is a muddy path across the bottom of the photo.

Photo of grass leading up to limestone boulders visible in the far distance, on the edge of Stoney Point, at Lake St. Claire.

Photo of a concrete pathway in the foreground between grass. Houses are visible on the left side of the path in the distance, behind a few trees. On the right side there is a back of a rectangular pumping station.

The land across the road from the utility and the cottage was once a grassy pedestrian thoroughfare to the beach. Now there is a fenced pumping station and a house with a concrete pathway. Between the two is a concrete pathway that spans the distance from road to lake. It is this public space that was used by vacationers and locals who did not have a private alternative.

The sandy beach is now the foundation for limestone boulders. These boulders contain a nicely manicured lawn that extends into the lake much further than the private beaches on either side, offering an exceptional vantage point from which to view the shoreline and the lake. This is the place where Raymond Knister pushed his boat into the water for his final swim. This is the place where Raymond’s wife entreated him to return to shore. This is the place where she stood in terror as he disappeared under the murky water forever.

Photo of grass leading up to limestone boulders on the edge of Stoney Point, at Lake St. Claire.

A photo of a brick church with a rectangular tower on the left side of the building, and a shorter right side, with an inverted triangular roof.

Some biographies of Raymond record that a funeral wake was held for him at St. Andrew’s United Church in Comber. The church is on the west side of Highway 77 in the middle of town, not even a ten minute drive from Stoney Point. One block south of the church is where Highway 77 intersects the formerly named Highway 98, now called County Road 46.

A photo of a red brick house with white detailing and grey roof surrounded by a yellowing lawn. The spine of the roof is covered in metal spikes. There is a tree with no leaves to the side in the foreground.

A red brick house with a grey roof stands to the side of a small two lane road. There are trees without their leaves lining the road side beside the house.

Approximately five kilometers west on 46 is the former house of Dr. Knister. The house is two storeys of intricately laid red brick with a Victorian flair capitulated by metal spires that follow the peak of the roof from front to back, giving it the appearance of a black metallic spine.

A large house of red brick and a grey roof stands in the background with trees, a fence and a lawn in front. The house has a small circular tower jutting from the right side and white detailing.

Further up the road is a bridge over the Ruscom River and a railway crossing. Beyond the crossing on the west side is a large green pasture surrounded by a beautiful wooden fence. The pasture separates the road from the massive mansion that was built by Raymond’s uncle John Knister at the turn of the 20^th century. Its size is impressive. Its aura is mysterious and spooky. Local children told stories of a young girl that could be seen looking down from a window in the turret on the third storey of the home. The property has changed ownership several times over the past century but the present owners still actively farm the land.

Directly across the road is a vast open field that once bragged a huge wooden barn. The barn burned to the ground in the early 1980s, long after it served as a respite for farming implements and beasts of burden, and as a playground for children who grew up on nearby farms. About two hundred metres east of the homestead on County Road 46 there is a minor road, not easily discernible from the land that surrounds it, which leads north in proximity to the Ruscom River. Not far down the road a white home becomes visible on the east side. It is set back from the road beyond a small pond. It was another Knister home years ago.

A medium sized white house with a grey roof stands in the background with a lawn and some trees standing in front and a river in the foreground. The photo was taken in winter, and the trees all have no leaves.

Photo of a black metal sign inlaid on stone wall. Title reads: "Ruscom United Church." Text reads "Built on this spot in 1855, dedicated to the glory of God as a Methodist Church. Moved to Ruscom in 1889 where it served the community until 1985, where the remaining congregations amalgamated with Woodslee United Church. The building of brick is gone but the living sanctuary continues. Jesus is our salvation, we have become his dwelling place. 1855-1985."

Photo of 2 white stone sign inlaid on to short stone pillar in front of a fence. The larger top sign reads "Wesleyan Church 1855" and the lower smaller one reads "Rebuilt 1889."

The gravestone is a weathered white and there is a tree and a row of graves behind it perpendicular to this one.

Two white gravestones with circular decorative carvings at their top back lit in a cemetery. The writing is faded and they look weathered.

A photo of a rectangular light grey gravestone placed on a slab of light pink stone taken in winter.

There were a lot of Knisters in this area during and after Raymond’s lifetime. All of them come from the same family of people who moved to Ruscom in the latter portion of the 19^th century. They were a Methodist clan with very strong ties to the land and to their community. Even today, many local people fondly recall “old Doc Knister” who practiced in Comber for decades. There was William H. Knister, who served the public as County Road Superintendent in the 1920s. And then, of course there was Raymond...

A dark green sign with a yellow border and yellow text stating: "Woodslee United Church Cemetery."

Photo of a flat pink gravestone inlaid in the ground surrounded by brown grass.

Side on view of a large pink rectangular marble gravestone with the name Knister on front and the names of the specific deceased carved on the side.

Photo of a red brick building, with an angled grey roof and a small white bell tower without the bell. There is a wooden porch visible on the left side, at the back of the building. There are 4-5 trees on the sides of the building and lawn, with their leaves missing for winter. The sign at the top of the building's front facade reads "Union School Section No 9 Romney-Tilbury East 1920," and was an original part of the structure when it was a schoolhouse.

Side of a large rectangular red brick building with a grey roof. There is a curved room protruding from the building face, and a wooden porch at the back. The lawn is brown and the tree beside the curved wall has no leaves.

The Stevenson Schoolhouse

The last few photographs in the collection were taken in Stevenson, Ontario on Friday, April 11, 2003. The Stevenson Schoolhouse is about ten kilometres south of Tilbury on Kent Road 5. The road winds, twists, bends and curves until it converges with three other roads at an awkward intersection. There is a church, three homes and the schoolhouse. The schoolhouse has been converted into a dwelling. The owners are a pleasant couple and seemed eager to talk about the building, in part because of the fact that the schoolhouse is for sale, but also because they truly embodied the friendliness and hospitality that one stereotypically expects of people in rural communities. The sign on the front of the building is original.