Ina Hunt-Turner | Aug 11, 2011


Photo: The Heath descendents at a recent reunion.

In 1911, when Dora and Jacob Heath built their cottage along the shore of Big Clear Lake, they could not possibly have known what they set in motion.

They were living in Toronto and had five daughters and one son, and used their cottage as a place to get away from it all. As soon as school was over for the summer, mother and the children would get on the train and get off at the Ardendale train station to head out to the cottage. They would row across the lake and stay there all season, with father coming up whenever he could, because back then there was no such thing as weekends off, as we have today. A work week was from Monday morning till Saturday at 12 o'clock.

Sadly, the son died while at the cottage from a burst appendix, because they could not get him to the hospital in time and that left the five girls.

As they got married, one by one, another cottage was built next to the existing one for the expanding family. Now the young families came up with their children and there was a real bond with each other. Everyone was responsible for different chores. One would cook, another make the beds, another sweep the floors and so forth. As time went on however, more cottages were built until each of the sisters and their husbands had their own cottages, all close to each other.

Five birches have been planted to commemorate the five sisters, and so the compound is named “The Birches”.

The families have retained a closeness that is almost unheard of today. They continued to get together in the summer and as their families grew, they bought or built more cottages, all around Big Clear Lake. As one person told me, over the years they have carried each other's burdens and shared each other's happiness.

This year they had a very well-planned 100th anniversary to celebrate the family and to remember the ones who had gone before them.

Attending were the Heaths, the Barnetts, the McCallums. the McPhees, the Browns and the Fosters. Our Dora Scott was a Barnett originally. Some of the family are living in California, Edmonton and Vancouver, although most of them live in Ontario. But no matter where they are, this is still their home away from home and they keep in touch with each other. Their 100th year celebration was in the planning stage for a year and how well they worked with each other to make the weekend such a memorable one. They had a golf tournament, horseshoe pitch, a fishing competition, a lipsync competition and an open house for their friends and neighbors. In one of the cottages there was an awesome display of artwork done by members of this family over the years; everything was carefully preserved for posterity. How much love and dedication it takes to keep track of all those things. I asked one of the family how they do that and she said, “It is simple; we love and respect each other.”

And in my mind, that says it all.

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