Anahareo

This is an information site on Anahareo (Gertrude Bernard), an amazing and gutsy Canadian woman, who is as much a part of the folklore of this great nation as maple syrup, the smell of fall leaves, the endless prairies, a dog team on a frozen lake and all those other symbols of Canadianism.	© Bob Richardson
Since we began building this site, we have found that Grey Owl and Anahareo (in short G&A) fans can be found not only in Canada, but in Australia, Poland, Britain, Japan and any other place in between. We welcome you to enjoy this site and to contribute information that may help it become the best and most comprehensive information source on Anahareo and Grey Owl.

Should you ask me, whence these stories
Whence this legends and traditions,
With the odor of the forest,
With the dew and damp of meadows,
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions,
As a thunder of the mountains?
I should answer, I should tell you,
"From the forests and the prairies,
From the land of the Ojibways,
From the land of the Dacotahs,
From the mountains, moors and fen-lands,
Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
Feeds among the reeds and rushes.
I repeat them as I heard them
From the lips of Nawadaha,
The musician, the sweet singer."

From "The Song of Hiawatha" 1855
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha" seems like an appropriate piece of literature to kick off this tale of Anahareo, as the part of her life that she is most remembered for are the years that she shared with Grey Owl. The "Song of Hiawatha" must have been one of Grey Owl's favourite pieces of literature, as he quotes from it extensively in his writings. Anahareo is credited as being the person, who turned Grey Owl from a hunter and trapper into a conservationist and author. Who then is this person, who became such an important part of Canadian folkore?

Anahareo

© Bob Richardson

Photo credit: Archives of Ontario C 273-1-0-39-16 Portrait photograph of Anahareo, probably taken during her 1937 visit to England, ca. 1938.