About Ladysmith
Up from the Front
" They came up from the front; the landing by the Ottawa River; up the rising ground to the place where the tall timber grew.
The first were Egan's men, lumbermen looking for the great white pine,
masts for the ships of Europe. And up in the hills they found the trees,
and there they stayed and set down roots themselves.
They were Irish - English-Irish, Church of England and Church of Rome -
who first came up the hills and founded homes.
And then, from across the seas, came the Germans, of the Emperor's army,
exchanging their commissions for land in a peaceful country. They wanted
land high and dry, for they were from the lowlands of "der Vaterland" and they went up to the hill
country and found what they sought. And they stayed too, Lutherans all, skilled
artisians all, and they build the village of Ladysmith.
Greermount and Thorne Center and Thornby and Schwartz and Ladysmith became
the focal points of Thorne Township. The hills of home; iron-clad, treed
with the noble oak and pine and maple now attract many tourists who, like
the pioneers, find these hills irrestible.
And that is who came, and why they came, up the hills to home."