A stone bench, with an old stone from a grist mill incorporated into its construction, sits along the banks of the Mississippi River next to Almonte Old Town Hall.

On the back od this bench is a bronze medallion inscribed with the names William McKenzie and Catherine Shields. The inscription reads:

Stranger sit and rest and dream

The noisy millstone turns no more

Before you runs the restless stream

That seeks the ocean evermore.

William McKenzie was a local minister in Almonte’s formative years.

Photo: Marina Brestska