Kagawong, ON, CA
It’s been a couple of days and after two nights in The Pool at Baie Fine, we returned to Little Current for another couple days and then headed to the little village of Kagawong, ON, CA in the Billings Township on Manitoulin Island for two more days - a lot of words to describe such a tiny town.
Kagawong means “where mists rise from the falling waters” in the local Ojibwe language. The Ojibway (also called Chippewa) are a major Anishinaabe Indigenous people whose homelands span the Great Lakes region, parts of the northern plains and southern Canada and the US. Their language belongs to the Algonquin language family and is spoken across Ontario and Manitoba into the northern United States.
There is a waterfall here called Bridal Veil Falls which appears to ave inspired the name of the village. The village is on the water’s edge of Mudge Bay, and is claimed to be Ontario’s prettiest village. We can’t confirm that for certain, but we can confirm the little town is very scenic, and the residents seem to take great pride in their history and culture.
We walked over to the Old Mill Heritage Center Museum which has a great collection of memorabilia, photos and other artifacts celebrating the history of the region and its people. The building itself was a pulp mill and the marina is built on the old dock that served the pulp freighters that were used to ship the pulp to Michigan for, among other things, Sear Roebuck catalogs. In the black and white photo below, the white cabin cruiser is parked in the same spot our boat is parked today.
The village also has a small church called “The Sailors Church” and the sanctuary is predominantly nautical in decor, including a pulpit made of the bow of a boat called the “RHU” which sank in the North Channel in 1965. The stained glass windows are spectacular, there are old anchors and ships lights anding throughout the sanctuary and each pew is decorated with old wooden lobster floats from the early 1900s. It really was a unique little church, steeped in nautical history,
The Falls are a bit of a walk from the marina, but are worth the hike. They are not massive, but are beautiful, cascading gently over the rocks into a deep quarry of crystal clear water. Based on the number of people there on a Tuesday afternoon, they arppear to be quite a local attraction for families out on a summer adventure. Will walked down to the bottom of the falls and was able to walk behind the falls, which was a damp and unique experience. It was also a cooling off spot for anyone who wanted to go for a swim.
We walked a bit further to find the Main St. Express sandwich shop which is located in an old school building and is only a drive-thru. We walked up to the window, ordered and had delicious sandwiches. Then, we wandered around the area the rest of the afternoon, taking in some of the parks with life-sized games, said hello to a local garden snake and stopped by The Manitoulin Chocolate Works, a charming family owned business that makes some of the most delicious chocolates we have ever had.
As evening rolled around, we met and hung out with some new friends who are sailing from Cleveland to some of the spots we have already visited, and we had a great time sharing stories and talking about some of our favorite anchorages and marinas. The evening ended with a beautiful sunset to cap off a fund day..
Tomorrow morning we plan to hit the local farmers market first thing before heading out to Gore Bay, another small scenic town on Manitoulin Island.
