Fred’s Camp

Cottages

&

Manitoulin Island

middle of

Lake Kagawong

705-377-4512

fredscamp@manitoulintime.com

Call us:

Welcome

Accommodation Types

(House Keeping)

Traditional Camping

You are in the middle of the Island  so …. Make a day trip anywhere on the Island or take part in a particular event, or get your favorite book in hand and simply enjoy a big slice of Manitoulin Time … with nature all around you.

Brief History 1938

1937  the Cranston family purchased a slice of land from the Clarke’s family also a original homesteader family from a large section of land. Then George Cranston built a 4 bedroom cottage, which is still in use today, along with the barn that was here and built by the Clarke family.

1943 The Colwell family from Ohio state, bought a small fishing camp from a man named George Cranston.  They renamed the camp Fred’s Camp after Fred Colwell, the owner and the father of the Colwell family.

The camp had a few small cabins, but no running water or electricity, and only outhouses for a convenient upgrade.  The camp was lit by either oil lamps or Aladdin style lamps.  The camp is situated on a bluff which is a point in Lake Kagawong , which is the second biggest in land Lake on Manitoulin Island  Getting water was very difficult, the water was carried by hand from the lake or later pumped to a water tank, and every winter the water would freeze, making life difficult.

As it was a fishing camp for vacationing Americans, Fred’s Camp offered boats and motors and fishing guides, the worms were sold for 2 cents each and the minnows were sold by the dozen.

1944 to 1947  The family built  another 2 more overnight cottages were built to accommodate more quests.

1948 Fred’s Camp finally got electricity which meant running water for the first time, only in the warmer months, with the same freezing problems as in the past. However the  winter months when the ice was on the lake in March, they would cut out blocks of ice to store in the ice hut with sawdust or wood shavings from the saw mills, to stock the  ice box (refrigerators) in the summer months for the quests.

1960  Betty Colwell (the main cook for the camp and mother of the family) got a job at the lawyer’s office in Gore Bay working for Cliff Boyd.  This meant she was no longer at  Fred’s Camp to cook food for the guests.  That led to all the cottages being converted to house keeping  cottages.  The cottages now had fires cook stove inside and guests were expected to cook for themselves.  Most of the guests were American fisherman or hunters so cooking their own food was not difficult.  

1963  Fred’s Camp was sold to Stanley Slavinsky, which seemed to be a struggle as the lack of maintenance began to show over time and with the deterioration and no improvements, Mother nature and her creatures starting to move in Mr. Slavinsky needed to sell the camp.

1988  Fred’s Camp was sold to the Lautenschlager family, the family immediately started improving and restoring all the cottages and building new bungalows which included indoor washrooms and shower also a work shop buildings and residential bungalow, raring down all buildings that were to far gone.  Initially taking the first  2 years building 10 new buildings and 7 cottage restore including new roofs, bringing Fred’s Camp up to more recent times.   Mr. Lautenschlager passed away in the summer of 1995.  Leaving his son to continue, and finish Fred’s Camp.

Today  Fred’s Camp is now 80+ years old, is a place for people to enjoy there vacation, the simple enjoyment of Mother nature, and natural beauty. The camp is still used for fishing and hunting, however the improvements made it more appealing for the entire family, family reunions, weddings, couples getaway, group occasions and corporate retreats.

Take a day and hike, or if you enjoy biking, tour through some of the best parts of Manitoulin Island; simply enjoy the pleasures in the delight of spotting wildlife in its natural habitat. Drive around the Island, this is sure to be an interesting and enjoyable tour through some of the small Towns and Villages that you will find along the way.

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705-377-4512

fredscamp@manitoulintime.com

Call us:

If you are looking for a wonderful place to enjoy a few relaxing weeks for your summer vacation, whether it is just the two of you, your family, a group, reunions or a wedding!

Fred’s Camp is located on a point on the crystal clear waters of Lake Kagawong, in the centre of Manitoulin Island, Rentals on bungalows, cottages and camp grounds, for your stay.

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Enjoy the Big SCREEN TV comes out most nights about 11:00PM

Located close to many of Manitoulin Island's attractions, fine restaurants, hiking trails (including the famous "Cup & Saucer"), beaches, horseback riding, cycling, and golf courses. These are just a few activities you can enjoy while visiting on Manitoulin Island.  Take a day and hike, or if you enjoy biking, tour through some of the best parts of Manitoulin Island; simply enjoy the pleasures in the delight of spotting wildlife in its natural habitat. Drive around the Island, this is sure to be an interesting and enjoyable tour through some of the small Towns and Villages that you will find along the way. Fred’s Camp will look forward to hearing from you when planning for your next Manitoulin vacation in northern Ontario.

Swim in Lake Kagawong’s crystal clear water, classified by the MNR as “Crystal “ water.

Manitoulin Island is the largest fresh water Island in the world, and has many very large fresh water lakes within the Island some like Lake Kagawong are an additional 100 feet  higher than Lake Huron which surrounds the Island.