Welcome to our Virtual Tour

Click on locations on the map above and explore our wonderful village

 

Long before humans, Astorville consisted of vegetation, wildlife, waterways and a beautiful lake. There were dazzling autumn forests of scarlet and gold with great white pines. There was no evidence of Aboriginal settlement but rather tales of gatherings as "nosbonsing" comes from the word "nasbonsing" which, in Ojibwe, means "meeting place." It is unknown whether the voyageurs who travelled the Nipissing Passage from Mattawa to Georgian Bay ventured the few kilometres south to Lake Nosbonsing. One thing for certain is the route allowed the Algonquin people from the region to accompany fur traders and Samuel de Champlain into Ontario in 1615.

 

The lumber industry brought more European settlers; specifically in the late 1860s, when J. R. Booth moved into the Lake Nosbonsing area. The first wave of new comers to Astorville came primarily from Québec and, in particular, the Charlevoix and Canton de l'est regions. Among the first settlers who came in the spring of 1883, were Cléophas Robert and Joseph Guillemette. It is said that they chose to settle on the many hills of Lake Nosbonsing's western shoreline as it resembled their homeland. The budding community, that emerged in 1885 would later be known as Tête-du-Lac, Levesqueville, Nosbonsing and finally Astorville.