(left) After it was acquired from Native Canadians in the early 19th century; until around the turn of the 20th century, property situated near the beach in Grand Bend was primarily owned by a large private real estate firm called the Canada Company and was regarded as nearly “unsellable”. Because of its primarily sand composition, the land was virtually useless from an agricultural or timber harvesting perspective. It wasn’t until demand for recreational housing exploded in the area in the early 20th century that anyone took an interest in purchasing it. In 1879; when this map was created, even developments such as the old Grand Bend Lakeview Casino were still 40 years in the future. This map; extracted from the H. Belden & Co., 1879 Historical Atlas of Huron County, tells the tale.
(below) Unknown subjects. Grand Bend family cottage, circa 1915. Click on image for larger version.
“Once when Brad was with us we had a bad fright. It had been hot and sultry all day with big thunderheads building up in the northwest. By early evening the sky was completely overcast with black menacing clouds; there was that eerie calm before the storm and then, with a sudden gale-force wind and driving rain, the storm was upon us. Forked lightning flashed in brilliant arcs almost simultaneously with thunder, like the clap of doom, which shook the cottage and made our teeth rattle as we huddled together. A blinding flash seemed to pass directly over us as it struck a tall pine not far from the cottage and a few seconds later we heard other trees come crashing down. If one hit the cottage we wore done for, but there was no place we could go to be safer. Then suddenly it was all over; the sky cleared and there was a brilliant sunset. We ventured forth, still rather shaken, to see the damage. Seven tall pines had been struck within a few hundred yards of the cottage. We were on the “Exeter Side” of the park; across the main road on the “Parkhill Side” there had been no damage at all. [Generally people from Exeter had cottages together on one side of town; Parkhill had another part and London residents had cottages in their own part of town.]” – personal recollection of a Grand Bend cottaging experience from circa 1925