S1 | Rewind Design | E6 Dianne in Dorset
Dianne in Dorset
Welcome to Rewind Design A Cottage History Podcast with your host + Local Interior Designer, (me!) Katy McNabb. Today we will be putting the spotlight on a historical Dorset cottage. Join me, as I navigate the waters and chat to my guests about their unique Dorset cottage and their family history over the last 100 years.
To start off this captivating story, I though I’d give a short little personal anecdote. I am lucky enough to work with an incredible design firm and each day I come into work, I sit next to a designer named Danielle. Months ago we were talking and I brought up my idea for a Cottage History Podcast. Her eyes lit up - in a flash she said “you have to speak to my mom!”. Excitedly, I typed out an email to her mom, Dianne, explaining my ideas and how I’d love to interview her. I anxiously clicked send and closed my laptop. A few days later she replied with an email, and what followed was an incredible cottage history story.
Dorset Circa 1900
Dianne’s cottage is located in Dorset on Lake of Bays in a narrow channel aptly called “The Narrows". The following information is from the “History of Dorset” Website written by Leigh Caporal. Dorset is a small community located on the boundary between the Algonquin Highlands Township in Haliburton County, Ontario and Lake of Bays Municipality in Muskoka District, Canada. In simpler terms, Dorset is located due East of Huntsville, due north of Muskoka on Highway 11. Dorset was originally called Cedar Narrows, however the name was replaced by some of the settlers that hailed from Dorset, England. (Which I have in fact been to!) When European settlers began emigrating to the area in the early 1800s, Dorset became known as Trading Bay for Francis Harvey's trading post that appeared along the Narrows. No one knows exactly who the first immigrants were, but 1675 has been carved into a rock marking the year some brave soul made the trip. This beautiful land is Indigenous land and is well known for the various Indigenous Bands that traded furs, fished, and hunted for survival. Before the European explorers, surveyors, lumberman, and developers Lake of Bays was their home and their heritage on the lake contributes heavily to the identity. (Source - LINK) From the Ontario Heritage Trust Website “A water-based people, the Anishinaabeg – the original people of this region – were a hunter-gatherer society that often travelled here to the narrows at Trading Bay (Lake of Bays). The area that is now Dorset was a special, spiritual place abundant in natural resources. For thousands of years the Anishinaabeg set up small camps here harvesting maple syrup and birch bark, fishing and trading in the spring and summer, and hunting and trapping during the fall and winter. Eventually, the Anishinaabeg realized that their hunting and harvesting rights and territory had been lost through a series of treaties. They continued to travel to the region to work as fishing and hunting guides and trading with seasonal tourists and cottagers.” (Source - LINK.)
Cottage Description
Dianne’s cottage property faces North West with an uninterrupted view of a wooded ridge lot on mainland across the narrow channel. The lush and wooded property feels especially private as you drive in through the u shaped driveway to reach the cottage just off the road. There have been many debates when entering which is the front door and which is the back… Dianne and I agree that the front door is the door facing the driveway, whereas some guests are determined the front door is the lake facing door! We are not convinced. The property was bought by Dianne’s grandfather who was in the lumber business in Dorset in the early 1900’s/late 1800’s. Her father subsequently bought the lot from her grandfather when he returned from the war for $100.00. It wasn't until he physically walked the property that he discovered there was already a cabin on it. The cabin belonged to one of the old lumber camps that the family still uses today as a sleeping bunky. It's about 130 years old… The current cottage was built in addition to the sleeping cabin in 1958 and the new room (Dianne still calls it that) was added in 1975.
Dianne’s dad was in the lumber business so the cottage is all wood interior, cedar walls and ceiling, brilliant red pine floors. Most of the furniture is hand me downs and whenever they acquire something new at home the old item goes to the cottage. Dianne has a lot of old dishes that came from gas stations which she would now consider antiques.
Listen to the Podcast below!
See images below the correspond to the audio podcast!
View from the dock!
The Infamous Velvet Curtains!
See Danielle, my co-worker, on the left and her cousin on the right.
An Ode to Bigwin Island
Dianne’s cottage on Lake of Bays is located just around the corner from Bigwin Island, a historic + mysterious island that is packed full of relics + monumental architecture. I can imagine myself wining and dining in the octagonal Bigwin dining hall or on the Venetian Terrace.
“Three sacred burial grounds were established by Chief Big Wind along with a summer settlement.
C.O. Shaw, a wealthy Huntsville tycoon, purchased Bigwin Island and in 1915 he hired designer John Wilson. The Inn's design was a uniquely eclectic combination in which Wilsonmixed elements of Classical, Mediterranean, Tudor and Victorian architecture. Bigwin Inn opened its doors in June of 1920, the decade that "roared" in its prosperity.
It quickly became the resort of choice for socialites and the upper class who congregated in the grand hall known as the Indian Head Room and the Rotunda with its huge stone fireplaces and large open verandas.
In the 30's, the unique octagonal Dining Room was joined by a second, and the Inn's Pavilion became a popular venue for performances of big bands including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians. In the 40's, Bigwin Inn welcomed a retinue of stars and celebrities, from famous Hollywood couple Clark Gable and Carole Lombard to such illustrious writers as Ernest Hemingway and H.G. Wells. It was a favorite haunt of the Rockefellers, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands stayed for a visit,
and Canadian Prime Ministers including John Diefenbaker often summered there.”
Historic Bigwin Island Residences (Source - LINK)
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If you would like to support this podcast, please follow along to patreon.com/rewinddesign. If you would like to support the show in other ways or share your own story, please send an email to katy@rewinddesign.ca or give me a call at 416 822 7489. Your donations help to run the podcast and costs associated with recording equipment and travel. 10% of all donations will be donated to the Georgian Bay Land Trust. Thank you so much, your support means everything.
Katy McNabb xo
