Treaty Rock

In the first half of the twentieth century, Thurstonia became a popular destination for visitors to the region and local residents alike. Percy Skitch (father of longtime FFSS teacher Larry Skitch) commissioned Swastika Lodge, completed for the Spring of 1916. It was later renamed Thurstonia Lodge when its original name became inappropriate after the Swastika became a Nazi symbol. Visitors enjoyed performances on the verandah including singers, dancers, violinists, pianists and elocutionists. In the 1930s, Martin Thurston opened the Greenhurst Pavilion nearby, which was one of the region’s most popular dance halls for generations to come. Tourists could take Captain Charles Gray’s steamer Lintonia to the wharf, or the train to Dunsford. The steamer Stoney Lake also brought excursions. Neighbourhood children loved to swim at Thurstonia.

Just down the hill from Thurstonia Lodge, on the shore of Sturgeon Lake sat Treaty Rock—a massive round boulder. Percy Skitch recounted that around the year 1919, a group from Curve Lake camped on Robert Knowlson’s woodlot: “There were about 30 in the party and they made rustic chairs, tables and other pieces of furniture; the women sold baskets and fancy beadwork. I believe there are still some of the cedar rustic chairs in use on the Lodge verandah. I used to chat with the chief of the group and ask him if he could relate some of the history of the big stone called Indian Treaty Rock on the shore by the boat house. On the underside of the rock, he showed me a chiselled Treaty, used in the early days to mark the boundary lines of the fishing and hunting grounds of two tribes, one from the east, the other from the west. There was also a legend that Samuel De Champlain, on his discovery and voyage through the lakes to Orillia, stopped at this historic rock with his Indian Guides.”

To the kids who grew up around Thurstonia, Treaty Rock was a very special stone. They spent their summers climbing on it as they swam in Sturgeon Lake. Practically everyone agreed it was a very important stone, but there were many different stories circulating about its significance. Some said it was where Champlain made a treaty with local natives, others would talk about how natives from the north shore of the lake would come over to have a picnic. Many people didn’t know if the legends were true or not, but everyone seemed to agree that it was a particularly significant rock.

During the second half of the twentieth century, Thurstonia became a very different place. When Percy Skitch purchased Thurstonia Park in 1914, there were four cottages, by 1966 there were more than 400. The Greenhurst Dance Pavilion burned in 1998 and by then the open-air concerts, steamers and Thurstonia Lodge were becoming distant memories. Of all of the attractions that once brought visitors to Thurstonia when it attracted huge crowds on summer weekends, today treaty rock is the last one left, sitting on the shore of Sturgeon Lake. Once was the landmark in front of a busy tourist hotel, it is now situated on private property.