One hundred and thirty-five years ago, Combermere, known then as Dennisons’ Bridge, was little more than a coach stop along the Peterson Road, one of Ontario’s most significant colonization roads that brought colonists into Hastings, Haliburton and Renfrew Counties. Seeking to make a new life for themselves and their families in the New World, immigrants from the United Kingdom and Europe travelled westward from the Ottawa River along the Peterson Road to what is today the hamlet of Combermere.

In those early years, dozens of settlers carved out homesteads in this beautiful area along the banks of the Madawaska River in the shadows of the red and white pine, maple and oak. 

Check out the last three years of the Combermere Free Press to learn more about Combermere, Barry's Bay, Brudenell, Maynooth, Bancroft, Foymount, Quadville, Round Lake, Eganville and other neighbouring communities and what they have to offer.