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township municipality in the District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada
North America > Canada > Ontario > Central Ontario > Muskoka > Lake of Bays

Lake of Bays is the northeastern township in Muskoka, sharing its name with one of the region's largest lakes. About 4,000 (2021) people live here year-round. It's a rural cottage country area popular for lakefront cottage getaways and rest stops en route to the west end of Algonquin Park's Highway 60 corridor.

Understand

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Baysville, at the southern end of Lake of Bays

The township surrounds the Lake of Bays, one of the largest lakes in Muskoka. A number of tiny communities have settled on the many bay, but they're easy to miss- most homes and cottages are well secluded from the highways, found at the ends of winding roads leading to the shore. Along the major driving routes, the villages of Dwight (at the north end of the lake, on Highways 35 and 60), Dorset (at the east end, split by the county border with Haliburton, on Highway 35), and Baysville (at the sound west end of the lake, on Muskoka Road 117) are the township's main settlements.

History

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The Lake's long shoreline provides archaeological evidence of tools used by people who fished and hunted these lands about 5,000-7,000 years ago, after the last glaciers retreated from the Canadian Shield about 10,000 years ago. Trading routes are an important part of Muskoka's cultural history over the last 2,000 years. By the 1800s, the Lake was an important Anishinaabe settlement known as Lake Nagatoagoman (Lake of many forks), with trade routes reaching as far as Montreal, and seasonal camps harvesting abundant fish, meat, berries, and maple syrup, supplemented by gardens of corn and potatoes. Red clay from the earth in some areas was turned into pigment. A trading outpost was established on Bigwin Island by the Hudson Bay Company's post in Orillia to take advantage of fur trade.

European settlement was underway by the 1860s, when land was subdivided in the Baysville area, and a sawmill opened to support a timber industry. Land routes were still treacherous, but settlers were attracted by the promise of the most beautiful fertile lands available at the time. While the beauty of the land was undisputed, the lands were not at all suitable for farming. Would-be farmers turned to logging and started hosting sportsmen traveling to the area by train and steamship, sometimes converting farmhouses into larger lodges to accommodate the new boom in tourism, while others operated hotels and services in town for loggers or tourists, depending on the season. As transportation links improved, affluent families began purchasing the waterfront lots for their private use. As most land became privately owned, indigenous fishers and trappers were displaced when it became impossible to work on the land as their families had for generations.

The golf course on Bigwin Island

Bigwin Island still contained a number of burial grounds and the trading outpost, but the island was acquired by a Huntsville entrepreneur who started building a large resort hotel and golf course starting in 1915. Between the 1920s and 1960s, the Bigwin Inn was known in some social circles as the country's foremost wilderness resort. During World War II, the Dutch royal family spent summers in some of the private cottages at the resort, storing the Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the hotel's safe. Baysville owes its paved road to Bracebridge to the popularity of the island resort.

Until service ended in 1958, the Portage Railway was the shortest commercial railway in the world, operating 1.8 km (1.1 mi) between Peninsula Lake (which offered a boat connection to Huntsville further west) and the north part of Lake of Bays, where passengers laden with their luggage could connect to steamboats heading to the island or other points on the Lake.

Tourism and recreation still dominate the township's economy. Thousands of people visit cottages with their own slice of the lake's long shoreline, or make a stop in town on the way to Algonquin Provincial Park or Huntsville.

Visitor information

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Get in

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The township is located east of Highway 11. Highway 60 passes through the township between Algonquin Provincial Park and the junction with Hwy 11 in Huntsville. Further south, Muskoka Road 117 (sometimes called Highway 117) runs east from Bracebridge and Hwy 11 toward Baysville and Dorset.

From the east, Highway 35 connects Lake of Bays via Dwight and Dorset to the Haliburton Highlands.

Get around

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Map
Map of Lake of Bays

By car

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Highways and regional roads cross the township, and encircle the lake. A car is the best way to get around the township.

By boat

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Public boat launches are available throughout the township, including:

  • 1 Norway Point boat launch on the southern shore between Dorset and Baysville,
  • 2 North Road in Baysville,
  • 3 South Portage Park west of Dwight, and
  • 4 Rabbit's Bay boat launch near Dorset.

See and do

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  • 1 Big East River Provincial Park. In the north end of the township, Big East River is a waterway park that provides canoeing and kayaking between the western boundary of Algonquin Park and Arrowhead Provincial Park in Huntsville. There are no services, amenities, or maintained campsites within the park. Parts of the waterway closer to Arrowhead are most accessible. Although the length of the river between the two parks has access to public land, trips along the entire length of the waterway require more experience and preparation, and may not be possible during all times of the year. Big East River Provincial Park (Q22418242) on Wikidata (updated Mar 2023)
  • 2 SS Bigwin, 1235 Main St (Dorset), toll-free: +1-844-424-4946, . May-Oct. The restored steamship from the early 1900s once ferried summer residents and celebrity guests between the Bigwin Inn and the mainland. As part of the Marine Museum, which houses some artifacts from the peak of the steamboat and resort era, the SS Bigwin provides guided daily tours of the Lake. Adults $30, seniors $25, children (over 5) $20. SS Bigwin (Q16222918) on Wikidata SS Bigwin on Wikipedia 
  • 1 Cast Iron, 2635 Muskoka Rd 117 (Baysville), ☏ +1 705-767-4602. W-Su noon-8PM. Popular restaurant for comfortable pub snacks, burgers, fish, steak, or wings. 
  • 2 Erika's, 2832 Hwy 60 (Dwight), ☏ +1 705-635-9490. M-F 6:30AM-2:30PM. Family-run bakery on the west side of Dwight, with several varieties of butter tart, but also homemade soups and sandwiches, pizza and ice cream. 
  • 3 Henrietta's Pine Bakery, 2868 Hwy 60 (Dwight), ☏ +1 705-635-2214. W-Sa 9AM-3PM. Family-run bakery on the east side of Dwight, specializing in bread, pastries, treats, and of course, butter tarts. 

Drink

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  • 1 Lake of Bays Brewing Company, 2681 Muskoka Rd 117 (Baysville), ☏ +1 705-767-2313. W-F 10AM-5PM, Sa 10AM-6PM, Su 10:30AM-4PM. The local craft beer brewer in this part of Muskoka. Many of their products are available throughout the region, but their brewery offers a taproom with fresh tastings, and retail sales to-go by the can or keg (by reservation). 

Sleep

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Many cottages are available surrounding the lake and throughout the township on smaller waterways further from the highways. If you're looking for accommodations with a few more services and amenities, or if you just need a room to use as a base for exploring the region, there are several motels, resorts and lodges to choose from.

Camping

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Go next

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  • Algonquin Provincial Park — hiking, canoeing, and backcountry camping in Ontario's oldest provincial park. The Highway 60 corridor also offers single-day self-guided hikes, car camping, and a logging museum.
  • Bracebridge — another town in Muskoka, west of Baysville, with a picturesque downtown off the Highway 11 corridor.
  • Haliburton Highlands — a rugged and rural cottage country region with old towns and a long rail trail.
  • Huntsville — the largest town in Muskoka, and a hub for cottage country life or outdoor adventure.
  • Magnetawan — A village along the Trans Canada Trail; part of the trail is known as Nipissing Road, or Ontario's Ghost Road, a path followed by early settlers attempting to farm the infertile Canadian Shield, who quickly abandoned their cabins when the prairies were opened for settlement. Remnants of log cabins and village sites are visible from the road, slowly disappearing into the forest.
  • Parry Sound — at the heart of the part of cottage country that extends into Ontario's Near North, the eastern shore of Georgian Bay.
Routes through Lake of Bays
ENDS at ←  N  S  → Haliburton Highlands → Clarington
ENDS at ← Huntsville ←  W  E  → Algonquin Provincial Park → Renfrew


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