Ontario Agritourism

Bigwin Inn

Bigwin Island • Lake of Bays • Central Ontario

In the 1920s this cedar-trimmed resort lured Al Jolson, Clark Gable, even the Prince of Wales; today its half-hidden rotunda and stone tea house share an island with fairways and modern cottages, proof that glamour never fully sinks, it simply changes dock.

Visitor Experience

📍 Location BigwinIsland • ferry from Norway Point
📅 Season/Best Time May–Oct • Fall colour peak sep23-Oct5
⏰ Hours Heritage walks tour 10&2 • Golf club guests only
💲 Admission Island tour $25 • Ferry  incl.• Golf green fees $295
♿ Accessibility Dock ramp • Island paths gravel • Rotunda stairs
🅿️🚻 Amenities Main land lot • Island washrooms • Snack terrace
🕒 Recommended Time 3–4 hrs (ferry + heritage tour)
🌐 Contact bigwinisland.com • 705-635-2311

What You Need to Know

Ferry seats sell out; reserve online. Pack flat shoes, boardwalk planks date to 1920. Non-golfers can still book the guided walking tour that circles the rotunda, tea house, and restored staff cabins.

Bigwin Inn

Bigwin Ferry takes passengers to Bigwin Island

 

Behind the Story

Bigwin wasn’t just luxury,  it was social engineering. Shaw’s original prospectus promised “musical bathing” (live quartet by the beach), vegetarian menus “for digestion,” and separate chalet rows for families versus singles. Bellhops slid luggage up a wooden incline powered by steam; florists shipped daily bouquets to fill lobby urns the height of canoes. But highways and post-war airlines shrank travel times to Miami, and Bigwin’s isolation became liability. What saved the bones? The island location—hard to access for vandals, irresistible for preservationists. Today golf fees fund cedar-shake roofs, and the tea house hosts pop-up jazz nights that feel eerily close to 1928.

Bigwin Inn

Bigwin Inn and Island, from the sky!

Explore Other Hidden Gems

Distance

Detour Idea

Why Go
10 km Dorset Lookout Tower 142-step steel tower, 360° fall-colour panorama
27 km Algonquin Logging Museum Outdoor trail with recreated 1880s camboose camp
46 km Huntsville Group of Seven Outdoor Gallery 90 mural reproductions on downtown walls
55 km Muskoka Steamships (Gravenhurst) Cruise aboard 1887-built RMS Segwun, sister steamer once docking at Bigwin
Bigwin Inn

Inside Bigwin Inn