At the west end of Rebecca Lake, a narrow channel leads to Hutcheson Bay, the site of the first “cottage” community on Bella and Rebecca Lakes.
Timber and Trapping
The land around what is now called Hutcheson Bay was taken up by settlers for lumbering and trapping rather than farming. In 1895 James Bahen held Lots 10 and 11, Concession 7, on the north shore of the bay, as well as Lot 11, Concession 8. He used them for timber, and operated a small sawmill near Rebecca Creek, which flows from the lake north to the Big East River.
In 1896, the southwest corner of Rebecca Lake (Lot 8, Concession 7) was purchased by James Bennett, who became James Bahen’s first neighbour. James Bennett was a trapper by trade. He built himself a small log cabin for his solitary trapping purposes, later replaced by a larger log home. Both of these structures continue to exist on this location. These properties were later purchased by the Boucher and Wilgress families. In an article in the Huntsville Forester on November 3, 1904, mention was made of the local, newly appointed game warden charging Bennett and two others who were caught fishing with nets and explosives in Rebecca Lake. Evidence was insufficient, and all three men were released.
Rebecca Lodge
The bay, however, is named after the second owners of the three Bahen lots, W. E. Hutcheson and his wife, Jennie Forfar Hutcheson, who purchased them from James Bahen in 1906. The Hutchesons were the first family on the two lakes who were “cottagers” in the truest sense – there for recreation, relaxation, and enjoyment with family and friends.
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How they arrived at the cottage: Women from Rebecca Lodge row to Jim Bennett’s corner (in distance slightly left of centre). From there they would take a vehicle to Huntsville. Typically this was a full day’s travel and several trips across the bay were made in each direction! (Marcia Julian) |
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Stories abound of encounters with porcupines, skunks, mink, and other assorted wildlife. In the 1920s to 1940s, the trip from Huntsville took most of a day and was done in stages using two vehicles – the latter half of the trip being taken in a Willie’s Overland open touring car with no brakes! Upon arriving at Jim Bennett’s cabin on the southwest corner of the bay, the party would borrow a rowboat and make several trips across the lake (often with Bessie Hutcheson, the family cow, swimming) to reach the cottage, which was called Rebecca Lodge. The cottage filled to overflowing, and a massive tent was also erected on the site to accommodate family and visiting friends. Breakfast of fresh lake trout was typically provided. Refrigeration at the lake included an icebox and the use of the cool water from a spring in the creek. Cooking for the masses was done on a traditional wood stove. Fresh vegetables were purchased from the garden of neighbour Jim Bennett. The family often enjoyed day-long picnics at the beach on Sand Lake (now Foundation Beach).
Sinclair Summer Resort and Pine Knoll
George Field, the son of Henry and Ann Field of Field’s Corner, owned Lots 9 and10, Concession 7, purchased in 1901, and subsequently sold them to James Norman Shearer and E. Bazett (surveyor) in 1910. Shearer and Bazett developed and registered plan M-34, Sinclair Summer Resort, in 1911. It was the first community of cottage properties on the two lakes, consisting of 16 lots with 66 feet of shoreline each.
The first purchaser was Alfred Charles Bernath, the principal for 37 years at the school in Huntsville and married to Elizabeth Hutcheson (sister of W. E. Hutcheson). He bought the largest lot, Lot 16, in 1912. He was the next-door neighbour in Huntsville of James Shearer, who had been the first principal of the Huntsville school and was chair of the school board when A. C. Bernath was principal. Bernath built his frame cabin, called Pine Knoll, in 1912. This cabin has subsequently been replaced, but the boathouse (with some renovations) remains in the corner of the northeast bay. Access to this cottage was also by boat from Jim Bennett’s landing.
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| Rebecca Lodge ca.1912. A. E. Bernath’s cottage (Pine Knoll, built in 1911) is on the right in the trees. The boathouse still remains today. The red canoe in front of Rebecca Lodge (ca. 1904) is still in good repair and used by the Julian family. (Marcia Julian) |
The subdivision was not a success, however, and Bazett sold his interest a couple of years later. James Shearer lost the property due to unpaid taxes, and it was later restored to their family through his daughter, Norma Shearer. The remaining properties in the subdivision were sold from the 1950s onward.
Cottages on the Point
The Hutcheson Road was built in 1947 as a private road to service the two identical log cottages on the point of the bay. Built in 1946, these cottages were owned by two brothers, George Hutcheson and William Hutcheson, who were married to two sisters, Delight and Rose Hilliard. Edgar Brook was instrumental in the building of the road and the cottages. In fact, many parts of the cottages, including the logs, were floated down the lake from Brook’s Mill. The windows arrived by the new road.
Prior to the arrival of electricity, two new cottages appeared on the bay. In 1953, Marion (Hutcheson) Richardson and her husband, Leeds, built the frame cabin on the most eastern point of the east bay. The cabin started out as a one-room cabin and was added to over the years. It remains much like its original structure, as all parts of the cottage were ferried over from the George/William Hutcheson point. This still remains the point of access. In 1955, Joy (Hutcheson) and Geoff Julian completed their half-log cottage “Merrymeet,” named after a quaint fishing village in Geoff’s home county of Cornwall in England. Family members remember the hand pump, the dumb waiter to keep food cool, benches made of boards on nail kegs, the wind-up phonograph, and the most “upscale” way to connect the three cottages by use of a three-way hand crank telephone system. Electricity came to Hutcheson Bay in the 1960s.
Five generations of the Hutcheson family have spent, and continue to spend, enjoyable summers around Hutcheson Bay. The families of Julian, Greven, McLean, Richardson, LaPointe, Pedretti, and Hutchins are all descendents of the original owners.
Sources:
Hutcheson, George F., Head and Tales (Bracebridge: Herald-Gazette Press, 1972).
Hutcheson Family, personal communications and stories.
Mansell, W. Dan, and Carolyn Paterson, eds., Pioneer Glimpses from Sinclair Township, Muskoka (Peterborough: asiOtus Natural Heritage Consultants, Barbara Paterson Papers, 2015).
Muskoka Land Registry, Bracebridge.