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Burgess cottage on Buck Island Point, 1959 (J. David Burgess)
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Robert Adam Field, the youngest son of settler Henry Field, held two lots between Bella and Rebecca Lakes from the Field family’s timber interests in the late 1880s to early 1900s. In 1954, Stewart and Kay Burgess purchased property on Stevenson’s (also called Buck Island) Point on Bella Lake from Robert Field after many conversations, meals, and sing-alongs with Robert and his wife Caroline.
Stewart and Kay, with their three children (later four), cleared the land by hand and camped on the point initially, without running water, electricity, or a building. They stayed at Fieldale Lodge as their base during the initial year, but also used tents and an open fire for cooking while at the point. The following year the family built a one-room cabin, the first on that side of the lake. Like many cottages of the time, it was “Brookie built” – by Edgar Brook with his employees from Brook’s Mill, Cecil Corcoran and Gordon Smith. Later the cabin was added to, room by room, with the resulting cottage being on several levels and eventually being enclosed with a breeze-way.
Getting There
Original access to the cottage was by water – the road only went as far as Fieldale Lodge on Rebecca Lake, operated by Robert and Caroline Field, although a footpath continued to the bridge between the lakes and also out to the point. The bush was thick, and walking was not easy. One day, Kay Burgess and her eldest daughter Barbara actually found themselves lost in the bush only a few hundred yards from the point, but fortunately were eventually able to find their way back.
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| Kay Burgess and Spotty the dog on Gull Rock, 1956 (Wendy Burgess) | Barbara Burgess and Spotty on the point, 1956. Buck Island is visible through the trees. (Wendy Burgess) | The Burgess “car topper” boat: “It had a 3 hp and my family (5 plus dog) all came with their belongings from Brook’s Mill to the Point. The gunnels were water level. I remember going in this boat to Billie Bear – it was practically an all-day adventure. I thought Billie Bear was a very long way.” (Wendy Burgess) |
Robert sold several other adjacent cottage lots in subsequent years, and the “Buck Island Road,” like the road to Fieldale earlier, was constructed in 1957 by Edgar Brook using his trusty bulldozer “Bertha.” Robert Field registered a Plan of Subdivision M-295 the following year, creating 24 waterfront cottage lots on Bella and Rebecca Lakes. By this time, the property was served by both road and hydro. On the lot plan, Fieldale Road was dedicated as “Caroline Street” and Buck Island Road as “Robert Street.”
Eaton’s Delivers Everywhere
Stewart’s son David, who was 13 the year before hydro reached his family’s cottage, told the story of the day Eaton’s delivered a refrigerator – related here in the words of David’s wife Ginny Burgess:
In those days Eaton’s had a store in Huntsville and a motto that they would deliver anywhere. Because there was no road, it had to be delivered by boat, no easy task. [After being loaded] at Brook’s Mill onto two small boats that had been tied together, the refrigerator made its way slowly down Rebecca Lake. When they reached the bridge, the refrigerator had to be taken off the boats and carried around the bridge (the flotilla didn’t fit under the bridge). It was loaded back onto the boats and slowly made its way down Bella Lake to Buck Island Point. Then it was unloaded onto the flat rock in front of the cabin and carried up to the cabin. This whole procedure took hours! When they finally got the refrigerator in place in the cabin, the delivery men wanted to plug it in to see if it was working properly. That’s when Stewart told them that they didn’t have hydro yet – that it was expected the next year, and he wanted to be prepared for it. David said that the only thing saving his Dad from being killed by those two delivery men was that his Dad had lots of cold beer cooling in the lake!
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| Stevenson’s picnic table and fireplace on Buck Island Point, 1959 (J. David Burgess) | Before the Burgess family purchased it, the point attracted picnickers from around the lake. This view across the lake from Buck Island Point was taken by Billie Bear guest “Matt” Matthews in 1940. (Billie Bear Archive) |
A Former Picnic Spot
Stevenson’s Point was named after a visitor on the lakes who would visit by boat, landing on the rocks in the bay. He built a picnic table and outdoor stone fireplace, and remnants of the latter remain today. Known as Buck Island Point (near Buck Island) since the 1950s, it is the site of the original Burgess cottage with several upgrades completed by subsequent owners. It remains a beautiful point extending to “gull rock” with several views of Bella Lake.
Sources:
Burgess, David, “Fieldale Road” (Presentation at the Lake of Bays Library, Dwight, October 2013).
Burgess, Kay, personal communications over the years (family stories as remembered by Wendy Burgess).