There are references to visitors to the Parish way back into the 1600's.
It will be interesting to collect these and share them here.
June 1760 : Bishop Richard Pococke visited the area : Tours in Scotland 1747, 1750, 1760 by Pococke, Richard, bishop of Meath, 1704-1765; Kemp, Daniel William A publication for the Scottish History Society - pdf held in archive
Ardchattan - Letter XIV pages 67 - 72 (which is p 148 of the pdf) - fascinating report on the "town" between Craigneuk and Beregonium - see link above
1769 Pennant a blog of a visit in the area in search of the lost city of Beregonium as part of his first Scottish tour of 1769, which commenced ‘late in the season’ on Sept 5th, 1769. Pennant had explored the area - "TP describes ‘Dun-mac-Sniochain, the ancient Beregonium, or Berogomum’ (p.356) as ‘an oblong insulated hill, on whose summit, the country-people say, there had been seven towers:"
To the Highlands in 1786: The Inquisitive Journey of a Young French Aristocrat. book describing journey to Oban on to Staffa includes reference to the "terrifying treachery of Etive" .. pages saved from Google books https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=By6-nfxBg-IC
One famous traveller was Dorothy Wordsworth, who came through across the two ferries from Connel to Appin in 1803 and the journeys were not good experiences.
These are chronicles in her journals
https://archive.org/details/journalsofdoroth014922mbp
The pages that refer to her time in our area are here
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usebooks/wordsworth-scotland/17.html
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usebooks/wordsworth-scotland/18.html
References to a number of 18th century travellers of the area can also be found here
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GZWpQi7vY0QC&pg=PA191
places to look .. from various sources
N. Phillips, Scottish Journey July – September 1791, quoted in M. Rackwitz, Travels to Terra Incognita: The Scottish Highlands and Hebrides in early modern travellers’ accounts, c. 1600 -1800 ,
D. Cooper, Road to the Isles: Travellers in the Hebrides, 1770 - 1914, (Edinburgh, 1992),
| Chambers Journal Vol 10 1853 includes description in our general area.
There are plenty more to find and share.
