Rewind Design
Ontario Cottage Country is an endless expanse of natural beauty and pleasure activities, but do you ever stop to think about the history behind it all? Rewind Design is a podcast shining the spotlight on Ontario’s Cottage Country, design history and all that comes along with owning a cottage on the water. Join your host, local Interior Designer, Katy McNabb, as she navigates the waters and chats to guests about their unique cottage stories and researches the locales we call our second home. She brings her passions into the discussions about the environment, sustainable design and design history. Katy draws on her own experiences and those of her guests to discuss cottage country inside and out!
Episodes
Saturday Oct 22, 2022
S1 | Rewind Design | E8 Patty on Rose Point - P2
Saturday Oct 22, 2022
Saturday Oct 22, 2022
The story begins in a similar fashion to my own history, with Patty’s ancestors hailing from Scotland and Germany, the same mix of cultures I am also from. Curiosity compelled me to read further and further into the pattern of emigration to Cottage Country, how did Patty’s family find their way here? How did they end up in a Farmhouse on the undisturbed Rose Point in the most beautiful protected part of the South Channel? How did they end up on the infamous Waubano Paddle Steamer which transported passengers across the rough seas of Georgian Bay from Collingwood to Parry Sound before there were railways or roads. The story dates back to 1894 when Patty’s now summer cottage was built by her great, great grandparents (Frank + Mary Hogg) to use a a year long home while he was working for the Midland and North Shore Lumber Company from. This original farmhouse was the first house on Rose Point in Parry Sound. He purchased approximately 150 acres of land stretching from the neighbour's property to the girls' camp. Frank Hogg bought the land from Annette Rose, who was the widow of Martin Rose, picked a nice spot, and built the house. His oldest daughter Wilhelmine (Patty’s great, great aunt) wrote about how Rose Point got its name in her autobiography: "...the prettiest point we called Rose Point. It attracted the eye of W.F. Thompson, a hotel man, who bought it and built a summer hotel on it. He wondered what to call it, and Dad said, "We call it Rose Point," and Mr.Thompson said, "Good. Rose Point it is," and there it is today on any map of the vicinity..." Patty’s ancestors lived in this home until around 1916 when they moved south to the states and landed in Cleveland, and then to Florida, using this Rose Point home as a summer residence from then on.
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
S1 | Rewind Design | E9 Bonnie on Bannockburn Road
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Welcome to the first ever Rewind Design episode featuring a Muskoka cottager! I had the utmost pleasure of sitting down and speaking with a wonderful woman, Bonnie Bean and her daughter, in their generational family cottage on Lake Muskoka. Bonnie was so open to speaking about her family’s past, their journey to Muskoka and the initial challenges of owning a cottage in the early 1900s. Bonnie has been coming up to Muskoka from Toronto with her family for 82 years, ever since she was born. Her family has owned a piece of property just 4 miles north of Bala on Lake Muskoka for over 100 years. The property has since gone through some changes, as is bound to happen over 100 years, yet Bonnie is still cottaging as strong as ever! Even at 82 years young! The original lot was purchased by her grandfather in 1915, and was a rough and rocky property to develop. It took 2 years to build the cottage, with no access to electricity, and rough landscape conditions.
Sunday Dec 11, 2022
S1 | Rewind Design | E10 Annie’s Island on Georgian Bay
Sunday Dec 11, 2022
Sunday Dec 11, 2022
On today’s episode of Rewind Design, we have 94-year-old Anne Grotrian – a creative, an artist, a teacher, and above all, a lover of Georgian Bay. She loves bones, stones, shells and driftwood, all of which you can find sprinkled around her eclectic Japanese pagoda style cottage!
She was born in 1928 in Toronto, grew up in Rosedale the youngest of 5 children with a father in the meat packing industry. They originally had a cottage on believe it or not, Toronto Island.
As a teenager she attended the girls’ private school, Branksome Hall in Toronto, and went to Ontario College of Art (now OCAD). She worked for 5 years at Henry Birk’s and Son in the window display department. When she was 45 she went back to school at George Brown for Jewelry making. She graduated and taught for 33 years and spent many happy years making jewelry.
She has had a wonderful creative life which is mirrored in her eclectic cottage with art everywhere.
She has spent:
A year around Europe.
A year in the arctic. – Managing the Inuit jewelry manufacturing company for the department of economic development of the Worth West Territories.
A year in Mexico. – San Miguel de Allende Institute where she studio, bronze casting, logography and life drawing. Bruce visited for 6 months and studied photography, which led to his career.
Anne’s Pilgrimage to Georgian Bay
Anne’s pilgrimage to Georgian Bay first started when she met a friend named Glady Smith at the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD). Who, in the 50’s originally traveled to Amanda Island to take in the sketch the wilderness. She bought Sanger Island, across from Amanda, when it came up for sale. In the mid 50’s, Anne fell madly in love with Georgian Bay, when she would come up each summer to visit her friend. In 1959, she went home to her espoused, and asked if he was serious about buying their own island, he said “yes” and Anne promptly stated “Ok, we are getting married”. They bought their island for $180 (crown land was selling for $150/acre and they bought a 1.3 acre island). And anther $150 for a survey.
Description of the Island + Cottage
The island was empty, except for a big yellow bus sitting near the shoreline. The island was originally owned by one other couple before the 50s, and unfortunately for them, but fortunately for Anne, they did not pay their taxes, and the island was returned to crown land. In this serendipitous timing Anne bought the island on a whim and in a very small window of opportunity.
Monday Jan 02, 2023
S1 | Rewind Design | E11 Gerry on Sunny Cove
Monday Jan 02, 2023
Monday Jan 02, 2023
“The property, the entire cove, was purchased by my grandfather, Luke Spearn in 1932. He had 6 children, willed the property to his family, each of his children got a lot. Lots were decided by picking a number from a hat, in order of birth.
The original cottage was a farmhouse with a wrap around veranda which was the cottage for 27 yrs, then upon death and division of lots, it was torn down in 1950s and, new strictly summer cottages were built. When the original cottage was torn down we found news papers in the wall used for insulation . They were 75 yrs old!!! My mother said she would put up the lot and $2500 and the rest was the responsibility of my sister and I. AFTER 15 years sharing, my wife and I bought the only undeveloped lot from uncle Frank in 1975. We built a winterized cottage in 1976. At that time there were no winterized cottages on Bannockburn Rd. To access we cross-country skied in (from highway 169) back packing all food wine etc. including our Lhasa apso. We spent 16 New Years Eves there (from 1976-1992), it was WONDERFUL!!!. Actually spent a week there one winter."
Sunday Jan 22, 2023
S1 | Rewind Design | E12 Rags on Axford Island
Sunday Jan 22, 2023
Sunday Jan 22, 2023
On this weeks episode, we have Rags (Don Ragland) who owns a cottage property on Axford Island on the South Channel of Georgian Bay. How he acquired the island was slightly problematic, extremely lucky and he has a very curious story to how he purchased his property! They have a charming property sitting in a sandy channel he calls “Sand Channel” or his buddies call it the “Raglonian Strait” (haha) between Axford Island and Lent Island on the south channel of Georgian Bay. Rags hails from Dearborn Michigan, the home of Henry Ford, and taught high school English + art so he was able to spend the majority of his summers in cottage country. He originally came to Parry Sound with his parents as a child and would stay at Point Pleasant Resort (before is was exclusively a marina) and they would pay $3/night for accommodation! His property on Axford Island is roughly 1.33 Acres with 210 feet of frontage. They have a magical, I would say even enchanting property tucked in the hemlock tree forest with the original cabin still in place, painted in a bright coca cola red, the same colour from when they purchased it in 1970.
Monday Feb 13, 2023
S1 | Rewind Design | E13 Geoff on Sand Bay
Monday Feb 13, 2023
Monday Feb 13, 2023
Hello and welcome to this weeks episode of Rewind Design - A Cottage History Podcast.
On this weeks episode, we have Geoffrey Hayes, a Sales Representative for All Points North in Parry Sound (See link here - https://allpointsnorth.ca/geoffrey-hayes/)
From his biography on All Points North he describes his journey to Cottage Living.
As a young boy from Waterloo, On, I have fond memories of travelling and fishing throughout northern ontario with my father and grandfather. To be honest, I’m pretty sure that this is when the love of fishing and Ontario’s back-country planted itself like a seed in my heart. Throughout my entire life, I have done what many people do – spend my holidays and weekends beating the mad rush out of the City to travel to the places where my heart was happiest – where I relaxed and felt free from the corporate life I was living. I spent much of my professional career in Corporate Canada in Customer Service leadership and I’m grateful for the opportunities that I had but when my wife and I became empty nesters, we knew it was time to make a different choice – to live in the place we yearned to be and to do something fun and different. I know how hard it can be to make radical life changes. I understand the challenges of living in a new community and I know how difficult it can be to choose a new path but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done and I’m not looking back. Whether you’re looking for a vacation home or make a permanent move, I’d be honoured to help you be where you want to be.
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
S1 | Rewind Design | E14 - Rebecca on Royal Muskoka Island
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
Welcome to Rewind Design, a Cottage History Podcast - dedicated to discovering the stories of Cottage Country in Ontario! I am your host, and local Interior Designer, Katy McNabb.
On this week’s episode, we have Rebecca Hay from Rebecca Hay Designs (www.rebeccahaydesigns.com). Not only is Rebecca an Interior Designer like me, she is also an entrepreneur, a mom, a mentor, a podcast host and a lifelong cottager! In this week's episode, we discuss Rebecca’s journey to becoming a designer, her life experiences that led her to design, and what she loves most about cottage country. We discuss the differences in designing for an urban environment like Toronto, and how we design cottages differently.
Link to Blog portion of this episode:www.rewinddesign.ca
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Rebecca Hay Designs
Design Website: https://www.rebeccahaydesigns.com/
Mentor Website: https://rebeccahay.com/
Podcast: https://rebeccahay.com/podcast/
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccahaydesigns/
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
S1 | Rewind Design | E15 - Season 2 Announcement!
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
Rewind Design is the recipient of the Georgian Bay Land Trust King Family Bursary for 2023! 🍾✨🎉.🌊While season 1 focuses on intimate stories of cottage history, season 2 will focus on sustainable design along the shores of Georgian Bay, with an emphasis on protecting the shoreline via green energy, green building methods and the maintenance and preservation of natural landscapes..🌊With support from the Georgian Bay Land Trust, I will be interviewing a variety of guests for my podcast, including builders, contractors, architects and landscapers, to discuss best practices when building sustainably on Georgian Bay. The purpose of season 2 is to educate Georgian Bay cottagers and locals on the benefits of sustainable design, presented through my podcast and blog in an accessible and easily understood conversational format..✨I am extremely honoured to receive the King Family Bursary in support of my project Rewind Design, Season 2. I am a huge advocate for sustainable design and architecture on Georgian Bay’s shorelines. Development on Georgian Bay is inevitable, however it is my goal to help current and future generations become more educated on sustainable ways of building and designing to protect our treasured Georgian Bay shores and ecosystems for generations to come.✨
GBLT Article: https://www.gblt.org/news-item/king-family-bursary-winner-katy-mcnabb/Website: www.rewinddesign.ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewinddesign.interiors/