Do you have a story about how you helped the lake? Send your stories and photos to info@lakeladies.ca.

Small Lake Project - Huge Waves

Oct 22, 2011

Author: Annabel Slaight

Something small but special in a prophetic sort of way happened this year on the shores of Lake Simcoe in the Town of Georgina. A dream first realized 122 years ago and since abandoned, got a new lease on life through community action, including Ladies of the Lake.

This story began in 1889 with the building of a small building, commissioned by local doctor Frank Sibbald, over a spring emerging at the Lake’s edge. As word spread about this healing spring, the Spring House itself became a symbol of the renewing powers of water. Torontonians flocked in great numbers to take the artesian waters to improve their health.

But then the spring became polluted. The shoreline eroded. And the little “gazebo” house became derelict. Even the history was lost - no one could remember what the building was or why it was put there.

In the course of thinking about a Water Centre for Innovation, Research and Learning on Lake Simcoe, several people on the committee took notice of the little Spring House almost collapsed at the edge of Lake Drive. And so the Ladies of the Lake, The Town of Georgina, the Georgina Historical Society and the LSRCA all offered support for a project to rehabilitate the area, thus triggering funding from the Lake Simcoe Clean Up Fund.

Next to join were the Georgina Trades Training Incorporated (GTTI), the Alliance for a Better Georgina, the York Region District School Board, the Ministry of Natural Resources and TD Friends of the Environment.

And so, with all this support from the community, work began. In fall 2010, the Spring House was transported to the GTTI so youth in SuttonHigh School’s Lighthouse Program could rebuild it with expert help. In summer 2011, the shoreline was softened and recontoured with boulders to facilitate water flow and create fish habitat. The land at the water’s edge was stabilized through bioengineering - a buffer of native plants that would also reduce run off into the lake carrying with it phosphorus, causing weed growth in the water. And finally the Spring House was returned to its site.

On August 17, 2011, the area was blessed by Chippewa Elder Barb MacDonald in a sunset ceremony at the launch of the Splash Water Festival. It now stands as a symbolic heart - a first step in realizing the dream of a visionary water centre on Lake Simcoe, and as a tribute to community collaboration and the power of water to bring people together. But one thing is left… can some day in the future pure spring water be able to flow here again? That is up to us all.