A Paradise for Single Ladies

Georgian Bay is the largest freshwater archipelago in the world, with a mass of small islands studded with pine trees that cling to crevices in the weathered granite. The Thirty Thousand Islands have attracted nature-lovers in search of an unspoiled environment with varied recreational opportunities since the early twentieth century. Some of the earliest of these hardy outdoor enthusiasts wore long skirts and large hats.

A group of young, single, professional women began to vacation in the Georgian Bay more than a century ago. They purchased islands of their own in the early 20th century, anticipating Virginia Woolf's famous plea for a room of one's own. For the next two decades, these free-spirited women spent their summers in the Pointe Au Baril area. We spent days and nights of unalloyed happiness among those beautiful islands, as May Bragdon described it in a 1904 issue of Recreation.

May Bragdon supported herself as a stenographer and secretary, but her true passion was writing and photography. She documented the community of confident women who spent their summers in Georgian Bay. At the start of the new century, Bragdon and her companions were called "New Women" by social commentators. They were educated, independent, and freed from Victorian conventions, as demonstrated by their determination to purchase their own islands and their vigorous outdoor activities once they arrived. A group of like-minded women built a local community.

Helen Alling Davis established this paradise for single women. The gymnastics instructor stayed at the hotel for several weeks. She was impressed by the natural beauty of the islands and heard that an island could be purchased for $5 to $10 Helen's island was small, but it provided varied landscapes and spectacular views. It included a jungle, hills, ravines, bays and promontories.

The world needs to be tasted!

According to legend, Helen named the island after herself because she didn't want to be a saint. Helen built a cottage on the island after taking advantage of her brother Hamilton's business connections and low cost of labor. Bragdon said that Saint Helen reigns supreme and all her guests are happy.

imitators were inspired by this initial purchase. Davis and her sister Charlotte were members of a social club for single women called The Perfect Little Ladies. They were well-educated, self-supporting professionals and chose to remain single for the rest of their lives. In the summer of 1903, the sisters hosted Perfects May Bragdon and Mary MacArthur and another Rochester resident, Marjorie Fowler. Helen's parents, her brother, and her sister all stayed at St.Helena.

The group spent their days exploring neighboring islands and enjoying the outdoors. Davis and her guests spent a lot of their time on the water, sailing, rowing, canoeing, fishing, and swimming. They explored the rocky islands and gathered fresh berries when they were on land. Their activities whetted their appetite for camp-style meals, whether they dined on fresh-caught fish or made do with peanut butter sandwiches.

After admiring dramatic sunsets and enjoying moonlight sails, Davis's guests, eager to possess their own vacation getaways, rose early to embark on what Bragdon called island shopping. By that time, she had built another island. Bragdon referred to the island as "Minnehaha", but Charlotte Davis preferred "The Song of Hiawatha"

Bragdon named her island after the poem by Kipling. She explored almost every inch of it on her own, as she detailed in her diary. She and several other women spent the entire day there, taking tea on a stony outcropping, watching a sunset, and roasting marshmallows over a bonfire.

A Canadian novelist who stayed at the Bellevue Hotel in 1900 scandalized her fellow guests by going out in a rowboat with a male companion and no chaperone. Bragdon and her female friends didn't care about maintaining gender conventions. Bragdon told her diary that she felt happy and far away from fuss and bother in Georgian Bay.

Other single women joined the Georgian Bay cottage community after being attracted by both the scenery and the emancipatory atmosphere of the islands. Marjorie Fowler bought an island that she christened Marjoria, while Bragdon's friend, Alice Colby, bought Onondaga. Women from the U.S. and Canada bought their own islands. Mary Elmore, an Ohio teacher, purchased an island with the meaning of butterfly in it. From the hotel, Elmore wrote to Ida May Henry to rave about the surroundings and the possibilities for outdoor recreation.

The Ojibway Hotel opened in 1906 and created new opportunities for summer visitors. Bragdon and her friend, a school teacher from Glen Falls, New York, stayed there in 1907 and spent most of their time on the smaller islands. The Georgian Bay was visited by at least twenty single women by the 1920s, most of them secretaries, salesclerks, or school teachers in their twenties and thirties.

Women who vacationed in the Georgian Bay islands felt a special affinity for the location. Bragdon talked about the beauty of the islands. In this idyllic setting, she declared in her 1904 article, "the cares of earth are far away, and one feels small in the bigness of the world." More than fifteen years later, her friend and fellow Perfect Edith A. Scott commented.

The freedom and openness that these women found in this Canadian archipelago a century ago still appeal to adventurous women today. Descendants of the Davis family still summer at St.Helena, where they have rebuilt the cabin but kept the original floor plan and many of the original furnishings. Five generations of the family have spent time in Georgian Bay.