Ontario's First "Vacation Highway": Exploring Early Motor Tourism on Hwy 11 from Toronto to Muskoka

The escape to Cottage Country on a summer weekend is a long-standing Ontario phenomenon. While people have been vacationing in Muskoka for as long as Canada has been a nation, it was the arrival of the automobile that really helped to throw open Muskoka's doors to vacationers, cottage-goers and widespread tourism. For the first time, people could arrive or leave on their own schedule, without having to worry about when their steamship was leaving the dock or what time their train might arrive at the station. A provincial highway has connected Toronto to Muskoka for more than a century, but early travel to Cottage Country was quite a different experience from the freeway travel via Highway 400 that most Ontarians know today. This video explores early motor travel and tourism on Ontario's First "Vacation Highway" via the King's Highway 11 from Yonge Street in Toronto northerly through Richmond Hill, Bradford, Barrie and Orillia. The highway to Muskoka has been beckoning travellers from Ontario and around the world to travel north for over a century - let's go exploring! #highway11 #muskoka #classiccars #ontario #travel