S1 | Rewind Design | E12 Rags on Axford Island
Rags on Axford island
Hello and welcome to this weeks episode of Rewind Design - A Cottage History Podcast.
Thank you to Parry Ragland for suggesting I speak to your father for this episode of the podcast! I am so grateful that you reached out. For the readers, I met Parry a long time ago when I was working at Craganmor Point Resort from age 14 on! He was part of our bonfire and party crew and he had the coolest red speedboat we all thought (at least I did) was the best thing ever. He is an engineer by trade, but he is also an athlete, a rower, an overall kind guy and our favourite American neighbor. He also introduced to to Anne Grotrian from Annie’s island (E10 READ ANN'S STORY HERE ) who has a cottage just around the corner from him.
View from the north into Sand Channel, Rag’s cottage is on the left.
Back to the story - on this weeks episode, we have Rags (Don Ragland) who owns a cottage property on Axford Island on the South Channel of Georgian Bay. How he acquired the island was slightly problematic, extremely lucky and he has a very curious story to how he purchased his property! They have a charming property sitting in a sandy channel he calls “Sand Channel” or his buddies call it the “Raglonian Strait” (haha) between Axford Island and Lent Island on the south channel of Georgian Bay. Rags hails from Dearborn Michigan, the home of Henry Ford, and taught high school English + art so he was able to spend the majority of his summers in cottage country. He originally came to Parry Sound with his parents as a child and would stay at Point Pleasant Resort (before is was exclusively a marina) and they would pay $3/night for accommodation! His property on Axford Island is roughly 1.33 Acres with 210 feet of frontage. They have a magical, I would say even enchanting property tucked in the hemlock tree forest with the original cabin still in place, painted in a bright coca cola red, the same colour from when they purchased it in 1970. Rags, from the Detroit area, and his then wife, her from Toronto ended up moving to Toronto in 1985, but Rags only lasted a year in Toronto before he moved back to Michigan. (he didn’t love city life).
Listen to the full episode BELOW!
The location of Rag’s cottage is quite unique tucked away and protected between 2 islands.
Rags standing in his Badminton Court
We started our interview with a walk of the property, Rags, Kelly (Rag’s daughter) and me. We toured the buildings and the special areas on their property. We took a tour of the shoreline, to the north, which wraps around towards a cove on the north where they often host parties and bonfires in this location. On the photo above you can see the cove to the north of Rag’s cottage. They also have an incredible badminton court which they hand leveled by taxing the losers of the badminton games to shovel and move a contractor's wheelbarrow of dirt across the court to fill in the uneven ground. They also have a sleeping cabin called the “Bear Hut” which Rag’s built for less than $1, with all reproposed materials from neighbors and from the transfer station. It perfectly sleeps two with a intimate relationship with the forest, you sleep surrounded by the hemlock forest and sound of the crickets .They also have a bunkie and several sheds.
Rag’s used Henry David Thoreau as an influence for building his Bear Hut - specifically the book “Life in the Woods”.
“Henry David Thoreau's Life In The Woods is a self-experiment that supplies a perfect opportunity for Thoreau to segregate from society and to live “several more lives.” This essay is a narrative of Thoreau's journey as he finds his true self while attempting to live a life of purpose and intention in the woods.”
Cottage description.
The cottage itself is a modest layout with a central living area when you walk in the entrance on the front face of the building. When you walk in through the screened swing door, you are greeted by a warm and welcoming cabin with a stone fireplace in the direct line of site, a rustic kitchen in the left wing of the cottage and a sleeping wing to the right. The cottage has 3 sleeping rooms and a functioning kitchen + bath and is clad with textured wood paneling throughout. The feature wall in the living room is clad in a cedar shake detail that warms up the space.
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