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The evolution of the
tourism industry in Simcoe County and Muskoka followed the great
water routes of the trappers, loggers, and voyageurs.
Honey
Harbour and the site of the Delawana Inn had all of the natural
features of a good harbour, protection from the elements, and a
beach area for bathing.
The sharp eye of entrepreneur
Nathan Nickerson identified the site as a perfect location for a
hotel. Nickerson and his wife Anne, had operated a store in Midland
for twelve years, a sawmill, Nickerson Brothers’ Mills in Hogg’s
Bay, (Victoria Harbour) and with his sons Albert and Charles, established
the hotel known as the Victoria House on the present site of The
Delawana Inn & Resort.
When the hotel opened
its doors in 1897, Mr. Nickerson was approximately seventy years
old. People thought he “lost his mind”, to leave such
a lucrative business as the lumber trade, but Nathan was convinced
that the Honey Harbour district
would become more popular for tourism than the famed Thousand Islands
of the St. Lawrence.
For fifteen cents,
according to the ad in the Midland Free
Press, the steamer “Odessa” would take guests from Victoria
Harbour to Honey Harbour. All guests
and supplies had to be transported by boat since there were no roads.
Accommodations were available for the night or the week. Guests
had the use of boats, meals were supplied, picnic lunches created,
and ice cream and confectioneries were available. The hotel was
a two-story wooden structure with extensive verandahs. During the
early years, Victoria House was a popular fishing camp without electricity
or telephones!
In the 1920s, Charles
Nickerson, Nathan’s son, sold Victoria House to the Grisé
brothers; they had operated The Royal Hotel across the channel.
Fred Grisé, who had managed a liquor store in Penetanguishene
until prohibition ended that venture, took over the operation of
the mainland hotel. Fred’s son, Didace, along with Fred's daughter-in-law,
Mary, became the managers. Didace and Mary raised five sons and
four daughters while running the resort!
It was under the Grisé
family that the hotel became The Delawana Inn. Legend has it that
a local Chief named Delawana suffered a great tragedy when a rock-fall
killed his daughter, Wah-Soo-na, and her two dogs. The Great Spirit
gave the area its beautiful birch trees in her memory and the people
named Big Dog and Little Dog Channels for her companion pets.
Still in the 1920s,
and due to the popularity of The Delawana, more cabins were built
to increase capacity. Lighting was by acetylene, water was heated
by wood, laundry was done by hand and huge icehouses provided refrigeration.
By 1935, the Marine
Wing was added, providing twenty more rooms, two of which had private
baths. Four rooms in the main building contained a bath, eleven
had running water, and the remaining seventeen had “still water
service”. The new kitchen had a dishwasher and oil-fired stoves.
Capacity at The Delawana was one hundred guests, most of them fishermen.
Fred Grisé was
always aware of what other hotels offered and constantly strove
to make his hotel competitive and up –to- date. He enlisted
dietitians to work in the kitchen; telephones were available twenty-four
hours a day, CNR telegrams were sent and received and running water
was installed during the war years.
The serendipitous opportunity
to upgrade came in the form of a fire in August 1952, which burned
the main building to the ground. The Grisés did not have
insurance, so they turned to private financing and reopened in the
following spring. The new main building contained ten rooms, which
qualified The Delawana for a beer and wine license. More units with
private baths were built and the increased prices were met with
some resistance. An aggressive advertising campaign soon attracted
conference groups. In July 1973, a second fire destroyed the building
and again the family rebuilt.
The changing nature
of travel and tourism saw many Canadians venture off to new foreign
destinations, and many Americans just stopped traveling north. In
l996 the resort changed hands and was purchased by a well-respected
development company from Toronto. The principals have a long-term
relationship with Delawana, going back to the 1950’s where
they vacationed as a family and fell in love with their “Del”
experiences and the shores of Georgian
Bay.
The resort is changing
to meet the needs of today’s modern traveler, while at the
same time keeping the traditions and rustic style that has been
creating family vacation memories for over 100 years.
The future for the
Delawana Inn Spa & Conference Resort will depend on you, our guests, and our ability
to create meaningful vacations for your family as we enter the third
century of operations. We hope your grandchildren will be returning
with their families at the turn of the next century.
Local
Georgian Bay Attractions can be found here!
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