GBA - Summer 2019

16 ≥ www.georgianbay.ca GBA UPDATE Summer 2019 History of the Pointe au Baril Islanders’ Association T he Pointe au Baril Islanders’ Association (PaBIA) with over 600 full-member families is the largest of the GBA member associations. Our coastal and island areas cover a central portion of the eastern shore of the Bay between the Bayfield-Nares and West Carling associations. The original community of Pointe au Baril was formed with the arrival of the fishing industry beginning around 1885. At that time, many areas up and down the coastline of Georgian Bay were being used for logging purposes, but because of a large fire that had consumed trees in the Pointe au Baril area, the logging was limited, thereby providing a quieter and safer haven for the fish. The summer home of the McIntosh family of Meaford, Ontario, the first to establish a fishing station, is still standing and now used as a cottage. Prior to 1908, when regular rail service came to Pointe au Baril Station, access to our area was limited to those who arrived by boat. According to Our Pointe au Baril by Ruth McCuaig, both the Bellevue Hotel and the first purpose-built cottage in Pointe au Baril were completed in 1900, close to the Lighthouse which had been constructed only eleven years earlier. Several guests of the hotel and nearby boarding house fell in love with the area and purchased properties within rowing distance. Two of those early cottage owners were sisters Helen and Katherine Davis, each with her own island. Their brother, Hamilton C. Davis, visited them to see the area for himself. Learning that the railroad was going to be built on the mainland, he recognized the potential for another hotel and chose a forty-acre island central to the whole Pointe au Baril area. The Ojibway Hotel was ready for business in 1906. Right from the beginning, The Ojibway was planned not just as a hotel, but also as a location meant to cater to the needs of the growing number of cottagers (i.e., needs such as a grocery store, post office, gift shop, docking, community centre and later an on-the-dock gas pump), as it does to this day as the Ojibway Club. The first Regatta was an Ojibway Hotel event in 1907, organized by Hamilton Davis. It was then that he and a group of cottagers talked about the need for an association as the summer population grew and more services were needed. The Pointe au Baril Islanders’ Association became a reality in 1908. Membership was open to all – whether island or mainland property owners, tenants, year-round or summer residents. Both seasonal and permanent residents have been members and served on our Board. The object of PaBIA was simply put: “to protect and further the interests of the property owners in every way possible.” Dues were $1.00. The first committees were Fire Protection, Transportation, Fishing, Regatta, Sanitation and Channel Navigation. These were concerns that involved the whole community and are still serving the needs of our members today. With regular rail service and finally access by road in the mid-1930s, the village of Pointe au Baril Station, 10 km east of the Lighthouse and directly down the main channel from it, was growing as year- round residents opened businesses to provide services to the rapidly increasing number of cottagers. Since 1908, PaBIA continues its mission to protect the environment and the safety of our members. Our Marine Patrol, focused on both of those concerns, has been in place for 20 years. PaBIA’s Board sought out GBA’s John Birnbaum for his invaluable assistance in helping us begin the program. Additionally, we set out and continue to maintain our own private markers throughout our area and took over navigational lights abandoned by the Coast Guard. About every five years, we produce an Islanders’ map showing cottage locations, including island numbers, as well as the placement of the channel markers. Members’ cottages are checked three times in the off-season by our Patrolman, with any problems found reported to the owners. PaBIA has always been a strong ratepayers’ voice, communicating with Township, Provincial and Federal levels of government on behalf of our members. COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS By Nancy Rogers and Hilde Clark