Dear Editor of The Review,
In 2021, I published a book titled Caledonia Springs; The Rise and Fall of one of Canada’s Grandest Hotels, and made it available through The Review’s gift shop. I had not started with the intention of writing a book. Caledonia Springs was where we walked our dog Mungo and I was simply curious about the place. Over time though, I began to do some research and keep some notes. This rapidly escalated into a hobby and, eventually, an obsession. Several years later, I found myself with masses of information about Caledonia Springs but I also found that I had run out of sources. I knew others out there must have other information about the Springs but I could not locate them. So I decided to write a book and let people contact me. And it worked. I collected quite a bit of very useful information for which I was, and am, quite grateful.
But I also collected a correction. Louise Bédard, the well-known local history buff from L’Orignal, let me know that I got at least one thing wrong. I stated in the book that the first European to find the springs (the indigenous people knew of them earlier, of course) was a man called Grant, an American. Louise was able to prove beyond doubt that he was actually a Scot. Grateful though I was for the correction, I never publicly thanked her for her diligent research or passed on her find to the general public. Until now. Thank you, Louise.
Respectfully,
Colin Affleck
