Kenabeek ( ) is a locality and unincorporated community in

geographic Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

Henwood Township in the Unorganized West Part of

Timiskaming District Timiskaming is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district was created in 1912 from parts of Algoma, Nipissing, and Sudbury districts. In 1921, Cochrane District was created from par ...

, in

northeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The community is located on

Ontario Highway 65 King's Highway 65, commonly referred to as Highway 65, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The route begins at Highway 66 and travels southeast to the Quebec border. At its midpoint, the route is conc ...

, approximately halfway between Elk Lake and

New Liskeard New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz Albums and EPs * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartn ...

Geography

Kenabeek and its surrounding area is mostly sand with a bit of rock, and a shallow amount of topsoil, and therefore is not good agricultural land. There are a number of small lakes within two or three miles (5 km) of Kenabeek, mostly privately owned. Many are

muskeg Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or ...

lakes and others are surrounded by swamp. Several of the lakes are home to

loon Loons (North American English) or divers (British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family Gaviidae and order Gavi ...

s. Land in the Kenabeek area is mostly used for growing hay and potatoes, and in a few cases for grazing a small number of cattle for local use.

History

Kenabeek was founded at some time in the early 1920s as a post office, since the nearest post office at the time was in

Thornloe Thornloe is a village in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the Timiskaming District. The village had a population of 112 in the Canada 2016 Census. Thornloe Cheese Factory Thornloe is situated within a fertile farm region in the Te ...

, about away, a long distance by horse and wagon. Other than farms (160 acre plots, a few with multiple homes, usually multi-generation family) there are no houses falling within the village, so the town is considered to be the General Store, Post Office and volunteer Fire Station. Kenabeek and the surrounding area was hit by the

Great Fire of 1922 The Great Fire of 1922 was a wildfire burning through the Lesser Clay Belt in the Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada, from October 4 to 5, 1922. It has been called one of the ten worst natural disasters in Canadian history. The preceding summe ...

(the Haileybury fire of 1922) which wiped out hundreds of acres of land and many homes in and around Kenabeek. Most of the residents of the Kenabeek area can trace their families back two and three generations.

Boundaries and residents

The Kenabeek town signs are placed about from the General Store and Post Office, but the surrounding homes are mostly on the original farm plots, except for a few homes carved out of those plots for extended family or friends, and are not town-homes. In addition to the General Store and Post Office, there is a volunteer fire department and building and a community centre. The community centre is the original one-room schoolhouse which housed grades 1 to 8 until sometime in the 1960s. The current caretaker of the Community Center is Jean Byerlay.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Communities in Timiskaming District