- History
- Lore and Stories
- Areas of Concern / Special Places
- Ecology
- Arts and Entertainment
- Recreation
- Food and local products
- Events
- Photo Album
History
Pefferlaw a Century Ago
…was at the pinnacle of its fortunes. A sawmill and gristmill were turning a tidy profit and sharing the spotlight with a tannery, a brickworks and a woodworking factory. The business core was booming with at least two general stores, several artisan shops (foremost among them a smithy), a barbershop, a bank, and two hotels lining the streets. In addition there was a school and several churches. The surrounding lands were under intensive cultivation with the farms well established and prospering and a weekly
market held in town on Fridays. In 1906, Pefferlaw would have been home to approximately 500 people.
Lore and Stories
Pefferlaw owes its existence to William Johnson, a career Royal Navy officer who almost single-handedly established the village. Captain Johnson (who dropped the ‘t’ in his name when he went into service), served with notable distinction throughout the Napoleonic wars, leading landing parties with sabre in hand and participating in several fierce naval battles. He eventually rose to the rank of Captain before being put on half-pay (retired with an allowance) after Napoleon’s defeat in 1815.
view Lore and Stories on the map >
Areas of Concern / Special Places
The river that runs through Pefferlaw has gone by several names. To the natives it was the Muckatoo, a word that means “black”. The early settlers translated that to the Black River, which later led to confusion since Sutton has a Black River as well. After a time the river became known as the Lower Black River and the Pefferlaw River, but today it is officially known as the Pefferlaw Brook. To locals it’s simply ‘The River’.
Lake Simcoe looms large on all accounts in the Pefferlaw area. For most of the 19th century, sailing sloops and steamships provided a reliable connection to other communities and were vital for the village’s economic development. During the winter, men took to the lake to harvest ice and to ice fish --the latter developing into an economic legacy still prominent today.
view Areas of Concern / Special Places on the map >
Ecology
When the first settlers arrived, they found a landscape rolling gently towards Lake Simcoe that was almost an oasis of verdant forest, nearly impassable marshland and swampy expanses. Today, these dynamic and complex areas form a natural environment that is essential to the survival of many species and to the health and renewal of Lake Simcoe.
Arts and Entertainment
Residents remain in touch with nature through a wealth of parks and outdoor recreational facilities. Pefferlaw Dam Park is the site of the historically significant Johnson sawmill. Water gently gurgles over a century old dam. Riverview Park also takes full advantage of the community’s waterside locale. Pefferlaw Lion’s Park is one of many gifts from the local Lion’s Club. Holmes Point Park in Pefferlaw and Corner’s Park in Port Bolster gives residents access to two of the best sandy beaches on Lake Simcoe.
view Arts and Entertainment on the map >
Recreation
The most popular social spot in the community of yesteryear was “the deep hole”, a natural pond, which served as a swimming spot in the summer and a natural rink in the winter. Skating carnivals, with people dressed in outlandish costumes, were popular events during the winter months and hockey was enthusiastically embraced.
For a while in the early 1900s, Pefferlaw boasted a championship hockey team that competed---and usually won---against squads as far away as Brechin, Aurora, and even Thunder Bay on one occasion. The community held strawberry parties and garden parties along the shores of “the deep hole” to raise money to send the players, via special railway car, to their away games.
Food and local products
A number of historic buildings still stand within the village core. The former bank, which from the 1960s until very recently was an appliance store and repair shop owned by John Dallimore, serves today as a private home. Across the street is the Belvedere Hotel and further west a former church has been put to good use as a youth centre. While the face of many of the original commercial buildings and their original uses have changed, their presence and the existence of some fine period homes, provide evidence of a main street that is not far removed from its 1906 streetscape.
view Food and local products on the map >
Events
Billed as Canada’s premier songwriters’ festival, the annual Eaglewood Folk Festival is a popular venue for singers, songwriters, instrumentalists and storytellers from across Canada and the United States.
Photo Album
