Beausoleil Island is a 8-kilometer long island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 in the Lake Huron

Lake Huron

Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...

's Georgian Bay

Georgian Bay

Georgian Bay is a large bay of Lake Huron, located entirely within Ontario, Canada...

, near Port Severn, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. It is the largest island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 in the Georgian Bay Islands National Park

Georgian Bay Islands National Park

Georgian Bay Islands National Park consists of 63 small islands or parts of islands in Georgian Bay, near Port Severn, Ontario. The park was established in 1929. The total park area is approximately 13.5 km²...

 and it offers island tent camping, overnight and day docking, heritage education programs, and hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

 trails. Wheelchair accessible sites and reserved campsites are also available at the Cedar Spring campground on Beausoleil Island.

Beausoleil Island is one of the last refuges for the seldom seen Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake; the only snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

 in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 whose venom is potentially dangerous to humans. On sunny days, the Georgian Bay

Georgian Bay

Georgian Bay is a large bay of Lake Huron, located entirely within Ontario, Canada...

's cobalt waters form a striking counterpart to the light blue of the sky, the pinkish rocks of the Canadian Shield

Canadian Shield

The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...

, and the dark green of the park's famous windswept pines. The Cambrian Trail, in the north part of the island, offers especially striking views of these natural features.

Northern Beausoleil Island's characteristic bedrock

Bedrock

In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...

 and wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

 environment is rich in many species and is a major breeding area for amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

s, turtle

Turtle

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...

s and snakes. Southern Beausoleil Island's hardwood and mixed forests are good representations of regional woodland communities.

History

Artifacts from as far back as the Middle Archaic period, 7,000 years ago, have been found, such as an Otter Creek projectile made from Onondaga chert. The remains of ancient pottery, tools, and hunting implements that have been found on Beausoleil have enabled archaeologists to determine that the island was, in all probability, used as a summer camp by early hunting and gathering cultures. These include primarily a Middle Woodland site occupied by the Point Peninsula and Saugeen groups (2,400-1,300 years ago), and the Algonkian speaking Odawa (or Ottawa) of the Late Woodland Period (600-400 years ago). Several other cultures have also left evidence of their occupation on the island.

Descendants of the Chippewas of Lake Huron and Lake Simcoe settled on Beausoleil Island in 1842. The soil on the island proved to be unsuitable for cultivation, so the band moved to the Christian Islands which had been set aside as a reserve in the 1850s. On June 5, 1856 Beausoleil and all of the other islands in Georgian Bay, except the Christian Islands, were surrendered or sold to the British Crown. The Chippewa residents of Christian Islands still identify themselves as the Beausoleil First Nation

Beausoleil First Nation

The Beausoleil First Nation is an Ojibwa First Nation located in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. The Beausoleil First Nations occupies three Indian reserves...

.

Beausoleil Island also played a significant role in the birth of residential camping in Ontario. Once the home of several summer camps for youth, two YMCA Camps still call the island home: YMCA Camp Kitchikewana (YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka) and YMCA Camp Queen Elizabeth (YMCA of Western Ontario). Former staffers at these two camps went on to become great leaders in the Canadian camping movement: Win Smith, Jack Pearse, Ron and Mickey Johnstone among them.