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Georgina Island

First Nations history in OntarioIslands of Lake SimcoeLake islands of OntarioUse Canadian English from January 2023
Georgina Island
Georgina Island

Georgina Island (Ojibwe: Waaseyaagmiing) is the largest of the lake islands of Lake Simcoe, located in southern Ontario, Canada. The island is a Native reserve populated by the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, a band of Ojibwa people. It is also within the Town of Georgina and in the Regional Municipality of York. Before the completion of the Trent–Severn Waterway, the water level on Lake Simcoe was low enough to enable residents to cross in wagons or walk in ankle-deep water to the mainland, at Virginia Beach, Ontario. After the Trent Severn Waterway was completed, the water level increased enough to submerge traditional farmlands and to require a boat for crossing to the mainland.Pope John Paul II stayed on neighbouring Strawberry Island for four days just before World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto.The island is reached by a ferry in summer and an airboat in winter. On the coldest days of winter Lake Simcoe is cold enough for an ice road to be built allowing light vehicles to drive across the frozen lake. The Women's Support Network of York Region has worked with the First Nations of Georgina Island.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Georgina Island (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

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N 44.3747 ° E -79.2937 °
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Nanabush Trails



Ontario, Canada
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Georgina Island
Georgina Island
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Sibbald Point Provincial Park
Sibbald Point Provincial Park

Sibbald Point Provincial Park is a provincial park located in Sutton West, Ontario, Canada on the southern shores of Lake Simcoe, 70 kilometres (43 mi) north of Toronto. The park is located to the east of the vacation town of Jackson's Point, and The Briars Resort and Country Club which was still owned by the Sibbald family until it was sold in 2017.Sibbald Point Provincial Park has long sand beaches, sunny and shaded campsites, large grassy picnic areas and a forested hiking trail. The Sibbald family sold the property in 1951 to the County of York and it was open as a County Park until 1956 when the County conveyed it to the Province. The property was then renamed as Sibbald Point Provincial Park and opened in 1957. Two of the major attractions in the park were constructed by the Sibbald family during the nineteenth century. The family home was purchased by Susan Sibbald from Major William Kingdom Rains in 1835. She supervised its transformation from a small cottage into a rural estate, a process which was completed in the 1840s. She named the structure Eildon Hall after the family estate in Scotland. Today the building serves as a museum dedicated to life in rural Ontario during the mid-nineteenth century. The museum is also known as the Sibbald Memorial Museum. An Ontario Historical Plaque was erected by the province to commemorate Eildon Hall's role in Ontario's heritage. Another important structure located adjacent to the park is St. George's Anglican Church. The church was built by Susan Sibbald's sons to replace an existing small wooden church, and was dedicated as a memorial to her. Completed in 1877, it ministers to the community to this day. Attached to the church is a small cemetery which contains the graves of many prominent citizens of the Lake Simcoe area including writers Stephen Leacock and Mazo de la Roche as well as musician Jim Schwalm. The park has camping facilities that are booked via Ontario Parks website.

Thorah Island
Thorah Island

Thorah Island is a lake island located in the southeast portion of Lake Simcoe, approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) west from Beaverton in Ontario, Canada. The island, part of Brock Township, is approximately 1,450 acres (6 km²) in size and the land is divided mainly between wooded and wooded-swamp terrain. Some land has been cleared for farming and recreational purposes but much of the agricultural land has fallen into disuse and has grown over. Centre Road runs from the east side of the island to the west side but is not much more than a dirt path. A small harbour exists on the east side of the island, directly across from Beaverton Harbour. There are several sandy beaches on the west side of the island, but most of the island's shore is rocky. Thorah as well as three other islands in Lake Simcoe were ceded by the Chippewa Indians in 1856 to the British Crown on the agreement that the land would be sold and the proceeds invested for the descendants of the ceding chiefs. Following this sale William Napier made the first survey of the island in 1856. Thorah was originally used as a recreational destination in the late nineteenth century by a group of four businessmen from Toronto who came to the island to camp and fish. The island currently (2005) has a seasonal population of 147 that include several descendants of the original group.Today the island is used by the Honey Bee Research Centre at the University of Guelph as an isolated mating station for the Buckfast Bee lines maintained by the research centre.The island was also named Canise (or Kanise) Island by Governor John Graves Simcoe in 1793 to honour a local native chief by that name. In the above-mentioned treaty between the natives and the British the island is known as Plum Island. Neither of these names is in popular use today.

Jackson's Point
Jackson's Point

Jackson's Point is a summer resort harbour located in the township of Georgina, on Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada. It was originally part of a naval land grant made to Captain William Bourchier (December 09, 1791-January 22, 1844) in 1819 (Bourchier was commander of the Provincial Marine's Lake Huron establishment out of Penetanguishene Naval Yard. John Mills Jackson settled the land, which was first used as a wharf facility for schooners travelling Lake Simcoe. Jackson acquired the land from James O'Brien Bourchier, brother of William and was father of William's wife Amelia Jackson. As transportation improved by steamers, and the arrival of railroads by 1877, seasonal residents began to settle in the area. Today, Jackson's Point harbour still caters to recreational boaters and campers, with the addition of small boutiques, street vendors, and live music. Before roads and trucks began to provide means of transport of goods and people to the village, the railway was the best means to get to Jackson's Point. From 1907 to 1930 Metropolitan Street Railway Lake Simcoe Line provided radial passenger rail service to Toronto from a station near today's Metro Road and Dalton Road. A second freight rail service from 1877 to 1929 rail under the Lake Simcoe Junction Railway and terminated at a shed near the northern end of Lorne Park.The Salvation Army Conference Centre & Children's Camp is also located here. The campgrounds were first purchased by The Salvation Army in 1917, but the Army ran summer camps on the grounds for nearly a decade before that.