Bobcaygeon, Ontario
Encyclopedia
Trent-Severn Waterway
The Trent–Severn Waterway is a Canadian canal system formerly used for industrial and transportation purposes and now for recreational and tourism purposes, connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to the Georgian Bay portion of Lake Huron at Port Severn...
in the City of Kawartha Lakes
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
The city of Kawartha Lakes is a unitary municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Although called a city, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontarian county and is mostly rural....
, east-central Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Bobcaygeon was incorporated as village in 1876, and became known as the "Hub of the Kawarthas". Its recorded name bob-ca-je-wan-unk comes either from the Mississauga Ojibwa word baabaagwaajiwanaang "at the very shallow currents", giishkaabikojiwanaang "at the cliffed cascades" or obaabikojiwanaang "at currented rocky narrows", or from the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
beau bocage "beautiful hedged farmland". The first lock in the Trent-Severn Waterway was built in Bobcaygeon in 1833.
History
By the early 1830s, the government of Upper CanadaUpper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
had completed its survey of the Township of Verulam and the area began to attract settlers. Thomas Need, who arrived in 1832 is recognized as one of the earliest settlers of the Township of Verulam and is the founder of Bobcaygeon. With his purchase of 3000 acres (12 km²) of land, Need built a sawmill, gristmill, and the first store.
In 1833, the provincial government began construction of a lock and canal at the narrows between Sturgeon and Pigeon Lakes. Soon a community began to develop around the lock and the Thomas Need's sawmill and gristmill. In the 1850s, the economic development of Bobcaygeon was stimulated by Mossom Boyd's lumbering business.
The provincial government had reserved and surveyed a town site on the north bank of Bobcaygeon River between Sturgeon and Pigeon Lakes, which was named Rokeby
Rokeby, Ontario
Rokeby, Ontario was the Government townsite located on the mainland at Bobcaygeon, Ontario, Canada, by the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, Sir John Colborne. Through common usage and the establishment of a Post Office in 1838, the name Bobcaygeon came to describe the entire town...
by visiting Lieutenant Governor Sir John Colborne
John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton
Field Marshal John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton, GCB, GCMG, GCH, PC was a British field marshal and colonial governor.-Early service:...
. Need laid out streets and plotted lots on the island, which was named Bobcaygeon. Today, Bobcaygeon designates both sides of the Bobcaygeon River, after the post office
Canada Post
Canada Post Corporation, known more simply as Canada Post , is the Canadian crown corporation which functions as the country's primary postal operator...
was established on the island by the first postmaster, Thomas Need.
In 1844, Thomas Need sold his profitable business interests to Mossom Boyd
Mossom Boyd
Mossom Boyd was ‘a member of the Anglo-Irish gentry,’ who, upon moving to Canada, quickly became the lumber king of the Trent.- Early life :...
, and returned to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Boyd and his sons built up a logging enterprise that was recognized as the third largest logging operation in Upper Canada. In addition to timbering, the Boyds also operated a system of steamboats under the name Trent Valley Navigation Company as well as an experimental beefalo
Beefalo
Beefalo are a fertile hybrid offspring of domestic cattle, Bos taurus, and the American bison, Bison bison...
herd on Boyd Island. Descendants of this herd remain in Alberta.
Bobcaygeon, with a population of about 1,000, was incorporated as a village by a Victoria County
Victoria County, Ontario
The County of Victoria, or Victoria County, was a county in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was formed in 1854 as The United Counties of Peterborough and Victoria, and gained independence in 1863. In 2001, the county was dissolved and reformed as the city of Kawartha Lakes...
by-law of 1876. During a series of restructuring moves, the village government joined with the Township of Verulam in 1999, and then was ordered amalgamated the other municipalities of Victoria County by the Kitchen Commission in 2000. Now Bobcaygeon exists as a community within the City of Kawartha Lakes.
Today, Bobcaygeon's chief industry is tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, particularly related to recreational fishing. Bobcaygeon is a hub for the region, providing many of the services unavailable in the smaller neighbouring communities.
Facts and figures
- Samuel de ChamplainSamuel de ChamplainSamuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
passed through Bobcaygeon with a band of Hurons during his 1615 military expedition.
- Bobcaygeon was the site of the first lock constructed on the Trent-Severn WaterwayTrent-Severn WaterwayThe Trent–Severn Waterway is a Canadian canal system formerly used for industrial and transportation purposes and now for recreational and tourism purposes, connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to the Georgian Bay portion of Lake Huron at Port Severn...
, construction first began in 1832.
- The town itself is situated on three islands, along with the main land.
- A group of local businessmen worked for many years to bring a railway into Bobcaygeon. Sir Sam Hughes sat on the board of the Lindsay, Pontypool & Bobcaygeon Railway. The line was leased to the Canadian Pacific RailwayCanadian Pacific RailwayThe Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
on completion. In July 1904 the first passenger train steamed into town. The service lasted until 1957, the railway lands becoming the Beach Park.
- The "Boyd Arch" still stands, after being transferred stone by stone to its new home in front of the Boyd Museum.
- In 1998, the Canadian rock band The Tragically HipThe Tragically HipThe Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as The Hip, is a Canadian rock band from Kingston, Ontario, consisting of Gordon Downie , Paul Langlois , Rob Baker , Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay . Since their formation in 1983 they have released 12 studio albums, two live albums, and 46 singles...
immortalized Bobcaygeon in their Juno AwardJuno AwardThe Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
-winning hit singleBobcaygeon (song)"Bobcaygeon" is a single by The Tragically Hip, from their sixth album, Phantom Power. The song is named after a town in Canada called Bobcaygeon, Ontario. The song won the Juno Award for Single of the Year in 2000....
that takes its name from the small village. The band played this song for the first time in the village on June 25, 2011 as part of Big Music Fest.
- The Bobcaygeon IndependentBobcaygeon IndependentThe Bobcaygeon Independent was the weekly community newspaper in Bobcaygeon, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1869. Ownership changed hands many times over the years, until it was purchased along with then owner, Citizens Communication Group, in 2000 by Metroland Publishing.The Independent...
was the local newspaper, established in 1869. Its last issue was printed in December 2004.
- The Central Ontario VisitorCentral Ontario VisitorThe Central Ontario Visitor was a weekly community newspaper in Bobcaygeon, Ontario, Canada, published in conjunction with the Bobcaygeon Independent and the Fenelon Falls Gazette...
(another local publication) was printed and released weekly with the Bobcaygeon Independent between the months of May through October from 1985 to 1999.
- The Promoter (another local publication) and one of the few remaining independent newspapers, published its first issue on March 15, 1991. www.thepromoter.ca
- The village's Canada DayCanada DayCanada Day , formerly Dominion Day , is the national day of Canada, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act , which united three British colonies into a single country, called Canada, within the British Empire...
festivities are held at Tommy Anderson Park, and its fireworks display is held at Beach Park.
- During the last weekend in May or first weekend in June, Bobcaygeon hosts an "Unlock The Summer" Event, as a kick off for summer, and the first opening of the locks of the season. For the summer of 2009 "Unlock the Summer" will be held on June 6 and 7.
- In 2001, Bobcaygeon played host to an episode of the OLN reality television series Drifters: The Water Wars as they passed through the Trent-Severn WaterwayTrent-Severn WaterwayThe Trent–Severn Waterway is a Canadian canal system formerly used for industrial and transportation purposes and now for recreational and tourism purposes, connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to the Georgian Bay portion of Lake Huron at Port Severn...
.
- Bobcaygeon hosts the annual Ontario Open Fiddle & Stepdance Competition during the last weekend of July. The first was held in October 1970, as part of the annual Fall Fair. It became the Ontario Open Fiddle Contest in 1971, and became a separate event with a July event date in 1973. In 1974, with the addition of stepdancing to the contest, it became the "Ontario Open Fiddle & Stepdance Competition".
- The annual Bobcaygeon Fall Fair takes place during the last weekend of September. The first being held in 1858.
- Bobcaygeon hosts an annual cruisefest for classic and custom cars in the second week of September. The first was held in 1996.
- The Kawartha Settlers' Village in Bobcaygeon holds the towns annual Festival of Trees in the second week of November. The first was held in 1997.
- Sponsored by local churches & merchants, the annual Bobcaygeon House Tour takes place in mid-June, where six Bobcaygeon homes are toured, along with an art show at the Trinity United Church. The first was held in 1992.
- The Boyd Heritage Museum depicts the life and times of "Lumber King of The Trent", Mossom Boyd, his family and empire. The Living History runs July and August 2008 and is a live, theatrical, fully interactive performance based on Mossom, his empire and his family.
- The Bobcaygeon Music Council, Inc., will for the first time be presenting a summer concert series. The series starts on the 2nd of July 2009 and runs every Thursday evening from 6:30 – 8pm in the Gazebo by the Bobcaygeon locks.
- InBobcaygeon.com, launched in July 2010, is the area's first daily online news and event website. A resource for locals and tourists, it contains local businesses, events and activities, sporting information and contact information.
Notable residents
Toronto Maple LeafsToronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
legends Allan Stanley
Allan Stanley
Allan Herbert Stanley was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League, and the Western Hockey League version of the Vancouver Canucks.-Playing...
and Johnny Bower
Johnny Bower
John William Bower , nicknamed "The China Wall", is a Hockey Hall of Fame goalie.-Playing career:...
reside in the area.