Gordon Lake is held together with pies (12 photos)

The Pie Social is one of the few things left keeping together Gordon Lake, a small farm community located just east of Echo Bay and north of Desbarats in Algoma.

Now that the two old churches, post office, blacksmith, Orange Hall lodge, and other public buildings have long vanished into to history — they are literally no longer —  the former town is now mostly just a collection of farms in the back corner of Johnson Township.

But Gordon Lake Hall still stands.

Built 1902, the hall was once the area’s schoolhouse and kids used to take long walks down country roads — or ski in the winter — just to get there.

Jessie Bell, 88, has called Gordon Lake home since 1936. She was at one time a teacher at the school house, now Gordon Lake Hall. Jeff Klassen/SooToday

There are still people around from the old days — though not quite as old as the school — like Jessie Bell, 88, whose family moved to the area in 1936.

She remembers attending the school.

10 grades, a mix of kids aged six into their early teens, crammed into the small wooden school house that’s so old at one time a framed image of Winston Churchill hung on the walls.

The photo of Queen Elizabeth II they have still hanging is so old she looks, well, kind of hot.

Elwood McKinnon moved to Desbarats in 1936 and Gordon Lake in 1962.

He thinks the area started changing as cars became more common.

As they got older, Gordon Lake children would often go to high school in Sault Ste. Marie.

In the old days it was considered a long trip and, when Bell went to high school at Collegiate in the Sault, she could only travel home once a month.

Nowadays it’s normal for people in that area to commute to and from the Sault daily.

After graduating high school, Bell got a job teaching in Tarbutt — another small community nearby — before finally working in Gordon Lake for a couple more years.

Then, like many other local women, “I got married and farmed,” said Bell whose husband Wilbert Bell passed away in March this year, at the age of 92.

Besides the Pie Social, the hall holds card nights once a month, the odd dinner event, and hosts gatherings after funerals at the nearby Mount Pleasant Cemetery (also called Gordon Lake Cemetery), where many of past townspeople lay buried, including Bell’s husband.

“This is very important, it’s the only hall — besides the arena — that we have in the Johnson Township,” said Bell.

The hall was historically taken care of by the Gordon Lake’s Woman’s Institute which folded in the 1980s due to low membership.

Mount Pleasant Cemetery — also called Gordon Lake Cemetery — just down the road from Gordon Lake Hall in Johnson Township. Jeff Klassen/SooToday

Members of the club were busy plating pies and setting up tables on Saturday for the annual Gordon Lake Hall Pie Social.

The pies were either baked by Social Club members or donated by people who just showed up.

The only cost was a pay-what-you-can donation and all proceeds went towards upkeep of the hall and putting on events.

At around 7 p.m. families parked their cars along the road next to the neighbouring farms and piled through the hall’s tiny entranceway to gladly fill a 3-litre jar with five and twenty dollar bills, giving them all-you-can-eat access to over a dozen types of pie.

Many of those who attended used to live in Gordon Lake but moved away for work, school, and life.

The event served as a way for these old-timers to reconect with their past and share stories with the newer generations. 

A video slideshow of old Gordon Lake photos was played to help trigger memories.

But, let's face it, no matter how important and interesting the past is, the kids in attendance only cared about the pie.

Objectively speaking, the pumpkin and rhubarb-strawberry were easily the best, the former’s filling being buttery, cool, and not to sweet, and the latter having this wonderful tartness and not-to-crumbly crust, though just crumbly enough.

The option of  ice cream, Cool Whip, and/or cheese slices was given.

The options of ice cream and Cool Whip were chosen

In total 276 pieces of pie were cut and, while maybe only two/thirds of it was eaten at the social on Saturday, it would be surprising if much of it was left by Monday.