PLAQUE TEXT

The Peterson Road was named after Joseph S. Peterson, a surveyor who determined its route in this region. Constructed 1858-1863 at a cost of some $39,000, it stretched about 114 miles between the Muskoka and Opeongo Roads and formed part of a system of government colonization routes built to open up the southern region of the Precambrian Shield. Poor soil disappointed hopes of large-scale agricultural settlement along this road both on government "free-grant" lots and on the lands of the Canadian Land and Emigration Company. Though portions of the route were overgrown by the 1850s, the Maynooth-Combermere section added lumbering and now contributes to the development of an important Ontario vacation area.

• Erected by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board, Department of Public Records and Archives in Ontario

GPS Co-ordinates: 45º 13' 52.86' N 77º 56'14.13 W (45.23111111 77.937222222)

Street address: North side of Highway 62 in front of library

MORE INFORMATION: The east-west Peterson Road, along with the east-west Monck Road and the north-south Hastings Road, formed a grid pattern to encourage settlers into the more remote parts of eastern Ontario.