 |
|
Looking northeast from Mansell’s, north shore of Rebecca Lake, ca. 1940s (Wendy Kimmel) |
From Brook’s Mill to Hutcheson Bay, the north and east shore of Rebecca Lake was more logged than settled, although Joseph Hart, the youngest of the Hart brothers to seek land in Sinclair, did locate on Lot 3, Concession 6, to the north of Kells Landing. Joseph and his brother George were part of the exodus that occurred as lands opened up in Western Canada, leaving for Manitoba in 1901.
Lumbering Between the Lakes
Robert Field (Lot 5, Concessions 7 and 8), Robert Storrie (Lot 4, Concession 7), and Hugh Fleming (Lots 2 and 3, Concession 7) held land between Rebecca and Bella Lakes from the early 1900s. Initially, logging and sawmills provided employment and further settlement. The Field family had a lumber camp on Rebecca Lake; Hugh Fleming sold the timber rights on his lots to the Huntsville Lumber Company, which held this contract through the 1920s.
When Hugh Hill moved his lumber operation from Limberlost to Kells Landing on Rebecca Lake, he established a sawmill. Hugh Hill and Edgar Brook (Brookie) became partners, and it came to be called Brook’s Mill, after “Brookie” bought out Hugh’s share. From 1938 to 1952, Brook’s Mill was a major employer in the area, and a community of employees and their families settled around Kells Bay near the Mill.
Camps, Lodges, and Roads
An unusual map (north is at the bottom) from the early 1920s marks hunting and fishing camps in the area, including Bailey’s camp on the first point north of Kells Landing on the shore of Rebecca Lake. John James Bailey, a business man from Huntsville, had purchased the point property from Hugh Fleming in 1918, and the original cabin was built probably before 1920. The map shows “roads” into both Bailey’s camp and Hugh Fleming’s camp at the mouth of Swain’s Bay.
The road was extended to Harley Tynan’s fishing camp (later to become Tynoka) on at least a portion of Lot 3, purchased from Hugh Fleming. Robert Field and his son cut out a further section to reach the Field logging camp in about 1933, when Robert and Caroline Field opened Fieldale Lodge on the site. What is now the Fieldale Road was first called Caroline Street, after Caroline (Carrie) Field, in cottage lot subdivision plans filed by the Fields and later.
 |
 |
 |
|
Dr. William Butt built “Port Gladwill,” pictured here in the 1940s, on the site of a fishing camp that had previously served Tynoka (Brian Butt) |
Hugh and Florence Hill’s cottage and shoreline on Rebecca Lake, 1955 (Gay Swan) |
North shore of Rebecca Lake in background, Jack and Linda Mansell in midget canoe, summer 1952 (Wendy Kimmel) |
Cottages
With the opening of summer resorts on Bella and Rebecca, cottaging became part of the landscape. Bailey’s cabin was likely earliest on Rebecca’s north and east shores, but others followed in the 1930s and 1940s.
Dr. William H. Butt of Toronto purchased five acres on Rebecca Lake in 1939 from Hugh Fleming, whose original Lots 2 and 3 in Concession 7 sat between Swain’s Bay and Rebecca Lake. The property included a fishing cabin and ice house that served Tynoka Lodge on Bella Lake, operated by Harley Tynan. Tynan had received treatment from Dr. Butt in Toronto following a logging injury. Dr. Butt and his wife Gladys Dunning renovated the cabin to create their cottage “Port Gladwill.” The doctor treated many local residents and cottagers during the summer. The ice house now serves as a bunkie, and the cottage remains in the family.
In the 1930s Dr. Wilf Rumney, a veterinarian, and his wife Jesse purchased property from the Loon Lake Hunting Club, where Wilf was a member. The original Fieldale Road ran very close to the shore of Rebecca Lake in this area, and the Club provided land to realign it, enlarging the waterfront property. In 1935 the Rumneys built a small cottage, adding a two-storey addition plus a boathouse in the 1940s. This cottage, too, has remained in the family.
In the early 1940s, Hugh Hill and Kelly Brook built a cottage for Hugh and his wife Florence on the site of Hugh’s old log dump up the shore from Brook’s Mill. Hugh and Florence were later joined by their good friends, Percy and Ella McGregor, who built a cottage next door in the early 1950s. Euchre was a favourite game of the McGregors and Hills, and they would often be seen playing under the big pine tree. The original McGregor cottage was sold in the 1960s to Ella’s sister, but after a few years it changed hands again to Lloyd (son of Hugh) and Zena Hill and then their daughter Gay Swan. Hugh’s and Florence’s daughter Billie Forrest and her family eventually owned both cottages on the original property. Although the McGregor cottage was eventually torn down, the fourth generation of Hills/Forrests still enjoy their cottage on Rebecca Lake.
Across the Bridge and Causeway
In 1967 Jack R. Welsh and his wife Bobbie (a daughter of Limberlost owners Gordon and Marion Hill) purchased the Fieldale property. Jack Welsh registered subdivision plans from Fieldale Lodge to the bridge (BR-1275 with six lots and BR-1292 with 22 parts). After selling the lodge, Jack and Bobbie moved into their property, Stonegate, off the Fieldale Road. Fieldale Lodge and Marina operated under several subsequent owners until the boathouse burned down in the 1970s.
Following their purchase of the causeway in 1972, David and Virginia Burgess created four lots on the northern shore of Rebecca lake near the causeway. These lots were subsequently sold to various cottagers, and David Burgess dedicated the extension of the Fieldale Road across the causeway to the Township of Lake of Bays as a public road in 1974. Further lots along the north shore of Rebecca Lake were created by the Burgess and Hutcheson families after 1977.
Sources:
Barbara Paterson Collection, “Cottage Histories by Road – Fieldale Road.”
Bramm, Richard G., “Early History of the Bramm Family Cottage” (Bailey’s Camp Historical Research, December 2018).
Burgess, David, “Fieldale Road” (presentation at Lake of Bays Library, Dwight, October 2013).
Forrest, Billie, “Forrest Cottages” (November 2000) in Barbara Paterson Collection, “Cottage Histories by Road.”
“Roads-Trails and Lakes Adjacent to Camp” (map from Loon Lake Hunt Club, cited by David Burgess, “Fieldale Road”).