Island retreat made for summer fun
Georgian Bay property boasts main lodge and four cabins — and zero nosy neighbours
With magnificent views, absolute privacy and outdoor recreation to suit every age, Bigwood Island is larger than life.
The 14-hectare private retreat, a five-minute boat ride across Byng Inlet in Georgian Bay, is the ideal gathering place for a multi-generational family, according to listing agent Ross Halloran.
“It would be great for a family that likes barefoot summers and is looking for an experience that only Georgian Bay can deliver,” he said.
That begins with the “absolutely stunning views that make you feel like you’re living in a Group of Seven painting,” said Halloran, of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada. In fact, artist Tom Thomson painted a landscape of the area in 1914.
Then there’s the “incredible property” — the entire island with four docking areas — that offers nature hikes, places to catch frogs, a 15-foot rock cliff to jump off, sheltered swimming area and “nights under the stars eating s’mores,” Halloran continued. And it’s all steeped in history. When current owner Arlette Rigby and her late husband Alec Rigby, former owner of Ripley’s Believe it or Not museums, bought the property in the early 1980s, it had been turned into a fishing camp, she said from her part-time home in Florida.
But the original owner, who built the main lodge in 1905, used it as a family retreat and community social hub, she said.
He was a lumber-mill owner in nearby Britt, Ont., a half-hour drive north of Parry Sound. His name was Mr. Bigwood. Every Saturday night he’d host a square dance for his family and employees, said Rigby.
She visited the island with her blended family of six children for almost 35 years.
“It was a wonderful place. We really had fun and a lot of good memories there,” she said, recalling extended summer stays and helicopter rides to the island in winter. “But it’s too big for me now.” During her family’s ownership, they restored the lodge, which features a large wraparound deck, as well as the four cabins that dot the rocky, pine-treed landscape.
One of the cabins is a log house from Quebec that they dismantled, rebuilt and restored. Each of the five residences, which collectively sleep 24 people, has its own unique mood, appeal and views, according to Halloran. All come fully furnished.
The main lodge and log cabin, done in authentic “lodge style” with animal heads and pelts.
The wood on walls, floors and ceilings, have a “tremendous amount of character,” Halloran said.
Seems like the kind of place that ought to be in pictures? It is, according to Rigby.
A Canadian movie expected to be released this fall was shot there last year. The island and its residences are steeped in history. The main lodge has been restored, having been built in 1905 by a lumber-mill owner from nearby Britt, Ont.