Ron Brown

"Nobody knows Ontario like Ron Brown" is how the CBC once described this author, geographer, and travel writer. Ron Brown has long had a love affair with the landscapes of Canada. His book publications include:

Rails Across Ontario,

Rails to the Atlantic,

Rails Over the Mountains,

From Queenston to Kingston: The Hidden Heritage of Lake Ontario's Shoreline,

The Lake Erie Shore: Ontario's Forgotten South Coast,

Back Roads of Ontario,

Behind Bars, Inside Ontario's Heritage Jails,

The Last Stop, a guide to Ontario's federally designated heritage railway stations,

Downtown Ontario, is a look at Ontario's most unusual main streets,

Top 100 Unusual Things to See in Ontario reveals landscape surprises right in our own backyards,

Ontario's Ghost Town Heritage, a photographic visit to Ontario's manu ghost town sites,

The popular title, The Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, an illustrated history of role of the train station in Canada's history, has been updated and revised, and recently released in a third edition.

His travel pieces have been published in the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Geographic Magazine, and VIA Rail Magazine. His 5000 image stock shot inventory includes views of Ontario's lesser-known landscapes, with a specialization in historic buildings, main streets, railway stations and ghost towns. He has provided consulting services to advertisers and film makers, including a History Channel series, seeking unusual locations at which to film. He has participated on TVO's Studio Two panels to determine Ontario's "most historic town," Ontario's "prettiest town," and Ontario's "best main street."

Following a 27-year career as a writer and community planner, including his role as an advisor to BIA's, with the Ontario government, Ron Brown now lectures on, and leads tours to ghost towns and heritage landscapes across Ontario. Ron is a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada, and is past chair of The Writers' Union of Canada.

In 2015, Ron received the Writers' Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award for his ongoing promotion of freedom to read and write in Canada.

Visit Ron's Site: Nobody Knows Ontario Like Ron Brown: http://www.ronbrown.ca/

Backroads of Ontario

By Ron Brown

Fabulous excursions via backroads explore and celebrate Ontario in special ways.

Backroads of Ontario gives travelers the information and maps they need to explore Ontario in a new and creative way. It invites them to exit the noisy busy highways and take a trip through Ontario's countryside and its history: silent ghost towns, charming villages, century-old mills and farmhouses, dramatic cliffs, prime picnic spots, architectural curiosities, an amethyst mine, an underwater graveyard of shipwrecks and so much more.

This guidebook has been used by thousands of travelers as they have discovered some of the province's most unexpected places. In this third edition, new information updates the old, including new attractions and the most current routes and directions.

There are 24 trips, each illustrated with photographs and accompanied by an easy-to-follow map. Trips range in length from afternoon outings to weekend excursions and all lead to out-of-the-way places within easy driving distance of Ontario's major cities.

Along with the Lake Simcoe Steeple Chase, there is a tour of Ontario's prettiest, most historic and most unusual country churches, and a lock-by-lock tour of the Welland Canal, an engineering marvel lauded around the world. Here are some of the sites on these tours:

An 1811 Quaker Meeting House, one of the oldest buildings on Toronto's Yonge Street
Lagoon City, a community on Lake Simcoe built entirely upon a system of canals and known as "Ontario's Venice"
A historically important First Nations site of significance later known as the Toronto Carrying Place Trail
Oro African Church, the 1845 church built by black settlers, descendents of militiamen who served Britain in the 1812 war, likely the oldest surviving log African church in North America.

REVIEWS

I was surprised by the number of interesting drives in regions of the province that I know very little about.
- Lisa Goodmurphy Gone With The Family Blog on 29/04/2016

Get the book, and plan new overnight adventures or make that long trip slower but a lot more fun.
- JB Cottage Country Reflections Blog on 04/04/2016

[Review of previous edition:] There are twenty-two places featured in the book, and we dare you not to take Brown up on his offer to visit at least one of them. Once you do, you will be setting aside days to visit many more... These destinations are impossible to resist either alone or with family and friends.
- Shelf Life on 01/01/2014

[Review of a previous edition] Compiled by Ron Brown, who must know more about Ontario's towns, past and present than anyone else.
- Joanne Bury Community Voices on 14/05/2004

Ron Brown

Backroads of Ontario

Ron Brown

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