Bigwin Island

Bigwin Island is the largest island on Lake of Bays, in the Muskoka District of Ontario, Canada. In 2001 it became the site of a major re-development, in the form of a private golf club and a planned community of family waterfront cottages and golf villas. It is the second development to be built on the island, and has regained its recognition as a world class vacation destination and is major economic contributor to the community.

There are also multiple native burial grounds on the Island and immediately off shore given graves that were once on the island were flooded when lake levels were changed with damming for the purpose of bringing improvements to the logging and navigation industries. The original owners consented to preserve and protect all the ancient burial sites on the island from desecration and to allow Chief John Bigwin, who was still alive at the time, to be buried there with his ancestors when he died.

The first development on Bigwin Island was known as the Bigwin Inn, which opened in 1920. It was an exclusive summer destination for tourists from Toronto and the US eastern seaboard, and was developed by Charles Orlando Shaw, a Huntsville businessman. He founded the Bigwin Inn Company Ltd. in 1915 and hired architect John Wilson of Collingwood to design the resort. With 350 guest rooms, it was one of the biggest and most beautiful resorts in Muskoka at the time. Wilson employed classical, Mediterranean, dodecagon, craftsman, Tudor and Victorian design elements, placed the buildings using the natural shoreline and landscape, used natural sunlight as much as possible, and connected the buildings with covered, lit walkways. Most construction took place during the winter, as the ice made it easier to transport supplies to the island, usually by horses and sleigh. Key buildings were the Indian Head Dining Room, which could seat up to 750 guests at one time, the Dance Pavilion and the Rotunda.

The first nine-hole golf course on Bigwin, designed by Stanley Thompson, opened in 1922. It became an 18-hole course by 1930.

At its height during the 1930s many renowned musicians played at the Dance Pavilion. By then, the smaller Marine Dining Room and the less elaborate Tea House were built, along with the ferry house to store the many boats that serviced Bigwin.

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