Nestled amongst the rocky islands of Shawanaga Inlet in Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada, the island of Osawa is a summer retreat for about 100 Brown family members. Traveling from all parts of the United States, the descendent relatives of Harry Whiting and Lucy Chappell McIntyre Brown return each summer to the rugged shores of the island family camp to enjoy swimming boating, fishing and relaxing in the wilderness lake region of Georgian Bay.Georgian Bay is about 320 kilometers long by 80 kilometers wide. It covers over 15,000 square kilometers, making it almost as large as Lake Ontario. Georgian Bay is part of the southern edge of the Canadian Shield, a geological formation carved out by the retreating glaciers at the end of the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago. The granite rock formations and windswept Eastern White Pine are characteristic of the islands and much of the shoreline of the Bay.
The Browns’ traditional summer migration to the cool waters, rock islands and pine forests of the Georgian Bay region began in 1907 when the family founded its first camp on the small 4.15 acre island of Kaavis. The Browns purchased the thirty-seven acre island of Osawa and the adjacent island of Table Rock in 1909, which they used for occasional picnics during the Kaavis years.
The family gradually outgrew Kaavis and the Browns moved the summer camp to Osawa Island in the southern tier of Shawanaga Inlet in 1949. Shawanaga Inlet, which takes its name from the Shawanaga River, forms a channel running generally from Pointe au Baril south to Dillon Cove, and the island of Osawa is part Georgian Bay chain of Thirty Thousand Islands.
Osawa sits about a mile off the mainland shore. But, with no access road to the lakefront there, the Brown family has typically used the village of Pointe-au-Baril some 11 miles north of the island as the main embarkation point. Pointe-au-Baril is located on Highway #69, 3 hours north of Toronto and 40km north of Parry Sound. The town draws its name from the Pointe au Baril Lighthouse. Legend has it that in the mid-19th century it was decided that a barrel would be placed with a lantern set on top to guide the boats into the channel — hence the name “Pointe au Baril” which translates as “Point of the Barrel.” The current lighthouse replaced the barrel in 1889. This light serves as a front range light; a skeletal tower on Macklin Island , about 0.9-mile ESE, serves as the rear range light.
Provincial Highway 69 is the main road to Pointe-au-Baril. Once a whistle stop on the Canadian Pacific Railway, Pointe-au-Baril remains little more than a village outpost in the midst of Ontario ‘s so called “cottage country.†Motorists driving north toward Sudbury or south toward Parry Sound, Barrie and Toronto may hardly notice the gas station and grocery that marks the turn off for it. But, make the turn, drive under the railroad bridge, and open the window for a whiff of the sweet, pungent scent coming from the weathered docks and pine as you head down the narrow road to the Pointe. You will arrive at a panoramic view of a rustic village harbor snug in the wilderness. The few shops, restaurants, and half-dozen marinas in the harbor serve as the gateway to Shawanaga Inlet and Georgian Bay. Contingents of the Brown family usually start to converge on the Pointe sometime around the month of July.
Weather & Climate – On average, July is the warmest month of the year in the region. Though most of the bay is frozen in winter, temperatures rise above freezing in March and April and usually average between 55 to 77 degrees in June and July. By August, the average temperature begins to decline to 51-71 degrees, with the highs hovering around the 68-degree mark in September. August and September are also the wettest months of the year, with average precipitation ranging from 3 to 3.2 inches, while January sees about 2 inches of snow or rain. In June and July the rainfall measures 2.7 inches on average. Daily weather conditions are notoriously fickle.
Though Osawans often enjoy long strings of sunny days and clear nights, summer thunderstorms can occasionally shudder across the waters with lightning speed. The thunderbolts and thrashing rain sometimes strike with such sudden violence that it shatters the soul at night. Yet, generally, Osawa days and nights are serene. Though cold, the Shawanaga Inlet waters are relatively calm. With almost no tidal pull and the thousand islands breaking the path of the wind, the wave swells seldom match the size, pitch or power of ordinary ocean waves. And in the stillness of the summer twilight hours the Bay waters often are as tranquil as the sheen of glass.