MUSKOKA LIVING Muskoka Lakes Museum

Muskoka Lakes Museum was founded in Canada’s centennial year, 1967. Since then it has worked to preserve and interpret local history, from First Nations and early settlement to resorts and cottaging.

Muskoka Lakes Museum

BY ANDREW HIND PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF MUSKOKA LAKES MUSEUM

For more than five decades, Muskoka Lakes Museum has exhibited and interpreted the area’s history.

Muskoka Lakes Museum has been a fixture in Bartleman Park, on an island in the heart of Port Carling, since 1967. But even prior to that date, the island had a notable past. In the 1920s and ’30s, it was a hive of activity.

A government-operated fish hatchery raised trout to restock lakes that had been depopulated by pollution from sawmills - impressive concrete foundations from the hatchery can still be seen on the island’s north waterline. In addition to the hatchery, there was also a building with a pool hall on the ground floor and a movie theatre above, a boat livery that rented canoes and rowboats to tourists, a lawn bowling green, and a baseball field. But by the 1960s, the glory days were long past.

The island was reinvigorated on July 2, 1967, when Muskoka Lakes Museum opened to the public.

The museum proved so successful that it necessitated several expansions over the ensuing years. The most notable addition came in 1982, when Hall House, a log cabin from Glen Orchard, was acquired. Painstakingly disassembled, removed from its original site and reconstructed on the island, the cabin has been furnished with artifacts to demonstrate the lifestyle of a typical Muskoka settler. Visitors should note the massive size of the logs— 60 centimetres (24 inches) thick and nine metres (30 feet) long.

The Hall House is an original settler’s log home, authentically furnished to the 1870s.

A highlight of the museum is the Marine Room, appropriate as Port Carling was once a hub of wooden boat building.

Hundreds of artifacts are displayed, from First Nations’ arrowheads to a homesteader’s cart. “We have something for everyone at the museum, regardless of your interests,” enthuses Director Curator Courtney Provan. People who like boats are engrossed with our Marine Room, with its antique boats [including a Dippy, a rare example of a Disappearing Propeller Boat built by W.J. Johnston, who for a time had boat factory on the island] and outboard motors, the earliest dating to 1916. Others, like our Resort Room, is designed to look like stepping into the lobby of an early Muskoka resort. Everyone seems to love the log cabin.”

The First Nations Gallery is dedicated to the region’s first inhabitants. A replica wigwam, two authentic birch-bark canoes and a range of artifacts demonstrate the traditional Ojibway way of life. The gallery is particularly appropriate in this location because traditional campgrounds were located just across the river.

With the influx of tourists in the 20th century, the Ojibway found a steady market for their handcrafted baskets and moccasins. A thriving First Nations community still resides in Muskoka.

“I love when people get excited about an exhibit and then share their own personal stories related to it,” says Provan. “This happens a lot in the Technology Room, where we display items used by farmers, loggers and cottagers in years past.”

Muskoka Lakes Museum engages the community through special programming, including the Wednesday Night Speakers’ Series (moved outside in 2021 due to Covid), a rotating series of interactive events in the gardens every Thursday throughout the summer, and an open house on Thanksgiving weekend when admission is free.

“Muskoka has a rich history,” Provan says, “and it’s all on display here.”

mlmuseum.com 100 Joseph Street, Port Carling, Ontario 705 765 5367