A sense of civic pride, the thrill of living in a place that others want to visit, and the enterprising spirit that inspires, runs through the archived pages of the Picton Gazette. Last summer we investigated nineteenth-century steamboat tours to the County. That story brought us into the 20th century — and the arrival of the automobile.

Tourism connects this small, distinct place, this island, to a larger world. The pages of the Gazette in 1878 make palpable just how much the County wanted that connection: a hotly anticipated railroad was coming. It meant a year-round connection, defying the long winter shutdown of both waterways and roads.

But while the railroad did bring tourists, it was dedicated mostly to industry and business visitors. Steamboats were the preferred mode of pleasure travel well into the 1890s.

The next big leap was heralded by the arrival of private automobiles. An early instance was in August 1903:

“Mr. C. R. Dench, of Erie, Pennsylvania, accompanied by his wife and family, are touring Canada in an automobile” — the car was clearly new. The report reminds of current newspaper disptaches on the hazards of travelling Ontario by EV.

The Denches had family ties here. “The party arrived in Picton on Saturday evening, and were guests of Mr. M. L. Warren, over Sunday, leaving on Monday for Kingston and the Thousand Islands.” The party travelled through Montreal all the way to the Adirondacks. “This will make a trip of about 1500 miles, and surely a most enjoyable one. Mr. Dench’s machine is of the gasoline type, and many admiring glances were thrown at it while on our streets.”

An editorial a decade later, in 1914 (reprinted recently in Living History) draws attention to the quality of the roads in the County. “To summer tourists, perhaps the greatest charm of the county is its good roads.”

By the 1920s, the pages of the Gazette feature regular news about, and advertisements for, cars. Mayor Fred Newman more than once published letters about traffic and parking.

Meanwhile, the mobility and independence enabled by the private car created a new kind of tourist.

The “motor club” was a thing. In April 1923 the Picton Motor League hosted a visit from the Michigan Pikers Association on its ninth annual tour. A luncheon was held at the Royal Hotel. Doctor P. E. Doolittle spoke. He was “the veteran Canadian good roads enthusiast of Toronto,” who had been “prominently identified with bicycling before the advent of the motor car.”

“It would have been a shame for them to have gone through this district and not see the county of Prince Edward and town of Picton. The people of this county are of the good old UE loyalist stock. They are intelligent, cultured and prosperous,” he said, as reported in the local paper.

Dr. Doolittle encouraged the tourist industry: “Don’t try to show them everything. Show them something real good and they will want to come back again. You people have a wonderful county. It is the most beautiful in Ontario. It has miles and miles of shoreline. You can’t get away from the water if you want to. Every Prince Edwarder should be a booster for his county. You have everything that attracts the tourist but you must let people know what you have got.”

He proposed joining the Pikers’ 1700-mile automobile journey and leaving Prince Edward County literature at every stop. The tourist “folders” of this early period offered advice and routes, and singled out places of interest for visitors.

The automobile brought a new kind of connection to the world. Now the County, more than ever, was sending its own tourists out to explore, report back, and make comparisons.

The Gazette’s editor, A. E. Calnan, told the Board of Trade Club in 1923, “I have traveled from Vancouver in the West to Halifax in the east, and I have come back after each trip thinking even more of my home county of Prince Edward.

“Nowhere in Canada are there better living conditions for the people. No place can outrival our fair county for beauty of scenery. Take the drive along the High Shore road from Picton, the view from Glenora, Picton Bay and the numerous beauty spots — the Sandbanks, the drives along the water’s edge in every direction. These cannot be surpassed anywhere.”

And again, in 1930, the editor spoke from his travel experience: “the tourist industry is only in its infancy. Its development awaits good roads.” He argues for completing what is now the Loyalist Parkway. “This road would mean much to Prince Edward from a tourist standpoint. There is no spot in Ontario that has so much to interest the tourist.”

Fast forward to 1963, and tourism was on the brink of becoming the major industry it is today. Sandbanks became a provincial park, and the province became a promoter of tourism.

“At the end of 1963,” reported the Gazette, “we expect that Canada’s gross dollars revenue from the tourist industry will surpass that received from agricultural production. And, by 1972, it is reasonable to believe that between 8 and 10 per cent of Canada’s population will be working directly or indirectly for the tourist industry.”

Mayor Harvey McFarland put the issue in personal terms, “it used to burn me up when people used to ask me where Picton is located. Today, most persons know where Picton is.”

Tourism, in other words, means recognition. It makes, and marks, our place in the world.