This is one of the cleverest town signs I’ve seen in my travels.  It welcomes one into Echo Bay, Ontario, a small Canadian hamlet on Lake George.

It’s situated near where lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior almost meet. 

I passed through there about three years ago on my way from Connecticut to Colorado. Yes, I am just now finally going through the many photos I took on that trip.

Echo is in the awkwardly-named township of Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional (a consolidation of three different townships).  It started life as many small towns did in the 1800s, as a railroad station serving the small mining industry.  It has since evolved into a lumber and agriculture area.

Echo is also the birthplace of Robert R. Carmichael, the artist who designed Canada’s “loonie,” the one-dollar coin introduced in 1987.  It replaced the paper version of the Canadian Dollar and the nickname became so popular that Canada trademarked it in 2006.

Meanwhile, the best real echo I’ve found lately is the one I discovered in the covered entryway at Manchester Memorial Hospital in Manchester, CT.  The first time I was there with granddaughter Margeaux and we passed under it I stopped, and said to her, “Listen to this,” and demonstrated.

She was impressed.