The Costello Hotel in Brudenell, Ont., on the storied Opeongo Line. (Photo: Paul Politis)

OVER THE THREE DECADES he’s called Ontario’s Madawaska Highlands his home, New Yorker Barney McCaffrey has delved deep into the area’s history. The septuagenarian storyteller now lends his voice to an audio tour of the 200-kilometre colonization road that the Ontario government hacked deep into the province’s interior in the mid-1800s to lure farmers to the region. Today’s drive along the storied Opeongo Line is like travelling back in time.

Originally designed to link the Ottawa River near Renfrew with what is now Algonquin Provincial Park, the plan proved foolhardy. The growing season was short. The Canadian Shield offered up thin acidic soil studded with rocks. And as lumbermen depleted tall stands of red and white pine for export to Europe, they moved on and the farmers’ ready markets vanished. By the early 20th century, many settlers had moved on too. Those who stayed were often too poor to upgrade their property.

While listening to the audio tour, you’ll travel country roads that snake through forests and alongside streams, passing what is said to be Canada’s largest collection of intact and inhabited pioneer log cabins. Stone fences speak to the immigrants’ toil. Ghost towns, such as picturesque Balaclava with its abandoned sawmill, speak to boom times. And Wilno, Canada’s first Polish settlement, recalls the wave of European immigrants lured by promoters McCaffrey calls “swindlers.” (The Wilno Tavern Restaurant still serves Polish delicacies.)

The area is ripe with historical characters too: Archibald McNab, the last feudal lord of Canada; Janusz Zurakowski, the test pilot of the ill-fated Avro Arrow fighter jet; even Al Capone, rumoured to have owned a hideout that still stands in Quadeville. Today’s inhabitants include artists and modern-day hippies. Sierra Designs, the outdoor clothing and equipment manufacturer, is located in Foymount, a one-time radar station and, at 500 metres, Ontario’s highest settlement.

The “Up the Line” audio guide CD is available for $11.50 from www.ottawavalley.org/thingstododrivingtrails.html.

— Peter Johansen

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SEEK AN ESCAPE from howling winds this winter with a gourmet hot chocolate at Canada’s largest confectionary store, The Candy Shop, overlooking the Canso Causeway in Port Hastings, N.S.

“It’s a wonderful place to be,” says Lynn Theriault, the store’s graphic designer.

Stroll rows and rows of dazzling delights: nearly 500 square metres of chocolates, fudge, handcrafted truffles, retro and hard-to-find candies, and plenty of sugar-free bonbons. The store can barely keep the shelves stocked with Gummis, Jelly Bellies and Sour Belts, says Theriault, as well as a signature creation called Wolf Bait, a blend of white chocolate, cashews and dried Nova Scotia cranberries.

Grab a stool at The Chocolate Bar, a 1950s neon backlit soda fountain, and sample some warm chocolatey beverages, the house specialty. There’s a jukebox and fireplace too. “‘The best place on Earth,’” says Theriault, “is a comment we commonly get.”

Visit www.islandcandyshop.com or call (902) CANDIES (226-3437).