Book Bringing Back Memories

I received this email from Eric Potter today. It meant a lot, coming from someone who has 'been there, seen that'. Of course I'm referring to childhood  memories Eric had of the long-gone industrial hey-day of Kingston harbour.  My thanks to Eric for his heartfelt words - from one Eric to another!

Stories can be fictional or they can be fact-based. Sometimes, fact-based stories can seem fictional even though they are not. In this case, the stories I am about to relate to are not fictional but real, and they happened in the city I grew up in: Kingston, Ontario. The stories are based on actual memories contained in a book by Eric Gagnon called Stories on the Waterfront - a Curated Collection of Memories and Photos of Kingston Harbour. Having obtained and read an earlier book of Eric's in my collection called Smoke on the Waterfront, when I saw this follow-up book was coming out, I just had to get it. Boy, I am sure glad I did.

You know there are many books on Kingston out there to read or collect and many are very good. There are lots of photo books by distinguished photographers with great photos, and they show Kingston in all its glory. But for me, reading through this latest book Stories on the Waterfront brings back many memories of the smaller details of daily life in Kingston 70 years or so ago. Many of them I had honestly forgotten, but when I read this book they all came back. I could identify with the story or the photos. 

To me as a small boy, the waterfront in Kingston was a magical place with the large ships, industries, the railways, the trucks and the hustle and bustle of a busy place. This book brought all that childhood fascination back. The photographs were all new to me. I had never seen them in print before, though the "I was there", and the "I saw that", or "I did that" all came flooding back. Was it worth the price of the book? You bet - and then some. If you have ever lived in Kingston during the era covered in this book, I highly recommend this book to you, and can state that you will not be disappointed with what you will see and read. It is chock full of historic well-produced black and white photos that are well chosen to go along with the clearly written and very informative text. It is a great followup to Smoke on the Waterfront.

There is only one problem with this book and that is there needs to be more like it to follow. Whether that happens or not is totally up to the author but one can always wish. Again, I was in Kingston during the time that most of what you see in this book was present, or occurred, and I know how much I enjoyed the second trip down memory lane courtesy of Eric Gagnon and his wonderful books. A lot of what you see in this book is now physically gone and is only captured in words and photos. If you are a current or expat Kingstonian like me who wants to relive some of their old memories, or learn more about Kingston's interesting history in an era not covered by many, then this book is for you. I highly recommend it. 

Thank you, Eric for helping me to relive some fond memories of my time growing up in Kingston.

Eric Potter

Lindsay, Ontario