Rondeau Featured in "Lake Erie Living" Magazine... Posted on 2009-04-15 09:38:27 A writer for Ohio-based Lake Erie Living Magazine interviewed Rondeau's cottagers during the summer of 2007. Their four-page "Cottaging in Canada" story was featured on the cover of their March 2009 issue. Reprinted here with permission, as published in Lake Erie Living Magazine. COTTAGING IN CANADA "Canadians love their cottages so much they turned the word into a verb!" Story by Benjamin Gleisser Photography by William Stephen ---------------------------------------- "Love me, love my cottage." So says Alysson Storey, who has summered in the same cottage in Rondeau Provincial Park since she was born 32 years ago. In fact, Storey, now a director of the Rondeau Cottagers Association, represents the seventh generation of her family “cottaging” at Rondeau, and she doesn’t plan on leaving the beautiful getaway spot on the northern shore of Lake Erie for any reason. “Any potential partner of mine would have to be open to living at Rondeau,” she says with a soft giggle. “I’ve lived in Toronto and other places, but nothing beats Rondeau— giving it up for a relationship would be a difficult decision.” Put that same thought to any of the other people living in the tiny community of less than 300 cottages lining five streets—many within a softball toss of the lake—and you’d probably get the same response. The cottages at Rondeau are, indeed, unique. They are located in one of only two parks in Ontario that allow privately owned residences. And Rondeau Provincial Park is considered a crown jewel in the park system. It’s Ontario’s second oldest park, established in 1894, with a beautiful lakeside environment that has been preserved for more than a century. The crescent-shaped peninsula features sand dunes stubbled with hardy grasses; marshlands where herons, bitterns, and rail birds nest; a Carolinian forest with sassafras, sugar maple, shagbark hickory, and tulip trees; prairie grass meadows where rare animal species make their home; and 292 cottages—owned by a tight-knit group of people who have shared this same slip of land for generations. Several families here are descendants of the original cottage builders, who first staked their claims when the park settlement opened in the late 1800s. A building boom took place in the early 1920s, when an electric line was installed. Later, sanitary sewers were added and the number of cottages in the park peaked at 461; but in 1954 a change in park policy set a moratorium on new building. Since then, many cottages have been phased out, some people have let their leases expire, and others have just moved away. But when you talk to those who have stayed, you understand that their memories are just as important as their unique homes—many of which started as one-room cottages surrounding a fireplace. Cottager Stew McLaren, 73, descended from Rondeau’s first settlers. In 1856, he says, his great-grandfather Donald McLaren brought his new bride Janet McKinlay to the area for their honeymoon. “At that time, the area was still just a forest matted with underbrush, with several huts housing native Canadians which were located on Harrison Trail, where group camping is today,” he remembers. “There was also an old hotel for those wishing to stay overnight.” The newlyweds loved the area so much, they stayed and built a farm where Stew’s father, Robert, was born. Robert, a fighter pilot in World War I, returned from the war and became superintendent of Rondeau Provincial Park in 1934. Stew was three months old when his family moved to the park, and he says his life was shaped by his experiences growing up there. He remembers tapping maple trees for syrup in autumn and in winter ice skating, ice fishing, and serving as a guide for visiting hunters. In the summers, teen-age Stew taught swimming and sailing at the Rondeau Yacht Club. “Sundays were the busiest days of all,” describes Stew. “Cars would circle the picnic grounds waiting for tables to become available. At the four corners, there was a dance hall, a trading post, a bicycle livery shop, and an incredible miniature golf course and archery range, which also included lawn bowling under the lights. If jukebox dancing wasn’t on the agenda, then there was a wiener roast on the beach.” With all those memories, it was no surprise what Stew did in 1996 when his contractor told him his cottage was too old and unstable to remodel. Stew razed it and rebuilt the cottage to look exactly like the one he had just demolished—but with more rooms. Many Rondeau residents feel the same as Stew. Their love for the park remains strong even though most of the area’s shops and attractions are gone. A general store and a restaurant remain, but the days of the cottagers may be coming to a close, as well. Land leases for the privately owned cottages are expected to expire in 2017. In eight years, all the cottages, both churches, and the yacht club must be demolished at the owners’ expense so the land can be returned to the park system. The Heritage Board of Chatham-Kent is concerned over the loss of the cottages, and the Rondeau Cottagers Association and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent are actively lobbying the provincial government to have all leases extended. back to main