2020
Fairy Island Revisited
This is the boathouse and cottage on Fairy Island. Avern Pardoe the Parlimentry Librarian in Ottawa purchased 50 acres on Lake Joseph for $5 per acre in 1895. It included Fairy Island. It would become the Pardoe family summer residence for over 100 years. The family eventually could not keep up with the costs of upkeep, property taxes and sold the island to the late Richard Ivy somewhere around 2005. There were many interested purchasers but the family decided on Richard Ivys offer as he had no interest in tearing it down. The Ivy family property is near by and looks over to Fairy Island. Please see my recent post about Loon Island.
I’ve been keeping a watch on this magical little island for over 10 years now. Unfortunately it’s slowly deteriorating and I suspect some day I’ll come by and it will be gone for ever. The boathouse and docks shown here in an earlier photo were severely damaged by the high water and ice a few years ago. They are both gone now and only the cottage remains tucked into the trees.
I made a Blog post about Fairy Island back in 2014 and much to my surprise I received quite a few interesting comments including ones from the Pardoe family. You can see how endearing a place it was and the beautiful memories shared at Fairy Island here.
In: boathouses of muskoka, historic muskoka, in and around muskoka ontario, on the water
It’s quite the area for exploring. The history is interesting.
I love to explore especially the historical places before they slip away forever