The Cabin: A Search for Personal Sanctuary

by Hap Wilson

One hundred years ago, a young doctor from Cleveland by the name of Robert Newcomb, travelled north to a place called Temagami. It was as far north as one could travel by any modern means. Beautiful beyond any simple expletive, the Temagami wilderness was a land rich in timber, clear-water lakes, fast flowing rivers, mystery and adventure. Newcomb befriended the local Aboriginals -- the Deep Water People -- and quickly discovered the best way to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1897045050
• ISBN13: 9781897045053
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Natural Heritage Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.7" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

One of the most inspirational stories I have read in a long time; perhaps in all time!

In 1931 two buildings of significance were constructed, so David "Hap" Wilson tells us ["The Cabin: A search for personal sanctuary," Natural Heritage Press, 2005]: One was the Empire State Building in New York City; the other, located one thousand miles away in Northern Ontario, was a small log cabin deep in the Temagami wilderness; two disparately different buildings. "The Empire State Building, pretentious in its almost obscene dimension, the Mammon built on the back of a nation in economic and social ruin, was a crude attempt by politicians to rekindle the faith in a capitalist democracy. The Cabin, on the other hand, was constructed primarily for its owner to escape the nations and tedium represented by such overt and politically motivated initiatives." Thus, from the very beginning of its existence The Cabin was a `sanctuary' of sorts. In many respects this is a love story. I don't believe the author intended it as a love story, per se, nor is it written in that style, but nonetheless it is. The `lover' in this case is not a woman, although Lady Evelyn Lake is beautiful, and can be precocious and unpredictable; nor is it a man, although the towering white and red pines and granite-faced cliffs are certainly rugged enough. Rather, it is a whole district called `Temagami;' a primal wilderness-sanctuary approximately 1,906 km2 (733 sq.mi.). In fact, Hap Wilson readily admits that he was "... lured to and seduced by the landscape." Inextricably linked with the landscape is the poignant and whimsical Aboriginal account of the creation of `The Temagami.' An account that goes back to a time before time when Nenebuc, the trickster, shot and killed the great snake that turned into ish-pud-in-ong--or Ishpatina Ridge, the highest point in Ontario. Or when he shot and killed the queen of Mishipeshu, the giant underwater lynx, causing a flood similar to that experienced by Noah in the Book of Genesis. "Metaphorically, I suppose," says Wilson in his introduction, "this provocative tale of rebirth attempts to substantiate and reconceptualize my own wanderings as a purely abstract approach to life experiences and expectations." Chaos leads to order--sometimes, if desired. A more intimate `love' in his life is `The Cabin,' and although its history is more recent, it nonetheless has a heritage that is poignant in its own right. He first encountered both The Temagami and The Cabin on a canoe trip in 1971, for which he by-passed a permanent illustrating job in Toronto to do so. To those who considered such impulsive behaviour irrational, his parents in particular, he simply chalked it up to the Zen of free-living, and a state of consciousness that allowed whatever to happen, happen. Somewhat turned-off by his father's workaholic drive to succeed at all cost, which included the family's spiritual needs, young Hap Wilson rebelled by developing a passion for the wilderness trail and a lack of respect for the material things in life. However, noteworthy