Vaughan to Midland and Penetanguishene: Georgian Bay's history towns

Two harbour towns at the bottom of the bay

Midland and Penetanguishene sit on neighbouring harbours at the southern end of Georgian Bay, an hour and a half from Vaughan, and between them they hold more of Ontario's early history than anywhere else in the province: Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, the reconstructed Jesuit mission of 1639 that was the first European settlement in Ontario; the Martyrs' Shrine across the road; Discovery Harbour, the British naval base of 1817 on Penetanguishene's harbour; and, offshore, the Georgian Bay Islands National Park, reached by Parks Canada's DayTripper boat from Honey Harbour. Add the Wye Marsh wildlife centre beside the mission and Midland's harbour with its murals and its cruise boat, and it is a family day that fills from nine to six — which is why the chauffeured version exists: the sites are ten to thirty minutes apart and a family in one vehicle with a driver moves between them without the parking or the arguing.

Sainte-Marie and the Shrine

Sainte-Marie is the morning: a palisaded mission of reconstructed longhouses, chapels, workshops and the canal lock the Jesuits built, with costumed interpreters, a museum, and a film that explains the mission's ten years and its burning in 1649. It is two hours for a family with children over six, and the Wendat and Jesuit story it tells is the one every Ontario student meets in Grade 5 — parents who came on the school bus bring their children in an SUV. The Martyrs' Shrine across Highway 12 is a Catholic pilgrimage church of 1926 on the hill, with grounds and a lookout over the mission and the marsh, and a stop of half an hour for the view. The chauffeur drops at the mission's entrance and the lot is large.

The Wye Marsh

Beside the mission, the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre is three thousand acres of marsh and forest with boardwalks, a tower, canoe and kayak rentals into the marsh's channels, a trumpeter-swan programme that restored the bird to Ontario, and a visitor centre with the raptors. An hour and a half with a stroller on the boardwalk, two hours with a canoe; the chauffeur drops at the centre and it is a hundred metres from Sainte-Marie's lot.

Discovery Harbour

Discovery Harbour on Penetanguishene's harbour is the afternoon: the reconstructed British naval and military base of the years after the War of 1812, with the replica schooners at the dock, the officers' quarters, the sail loft and the interpreters in period uniform, and the King's Wharf Theatre beside it, which runs a summer season of musicals and plays that a Vaughan couple books as an evening with dinner in Penetanguishene and the chauffeur waiting. Two hours for a family; the harbour's lot is at the gate.

The islands

Georgian Bay Islands National Park is Beausoleil Island and fifty-odd smaller ones off Honey Harbour, twenty-five minutes north of Midland, reached by Parks Canada's DayTripper boat on a reserved schedule; the island has trails, beaches, the Cedar Spring visitor area and the northern end's Canadian Shield — a day on its own, or an afternoon if the family takes the early boat. The chauffeur drops at the Honey Harbour dock and collects at the return sailing; the boat is reserved on the park's site and the time goes in the notes. Midland's own harbour has the Miss Midland cruise into the 30,000 Islands' southern end for a family that prefers the boat to the island.

The towns

Midland's downtown has the murals — thirty-odd historical murals painted on the buildings of King Street, the town's answer to Huntsville's Group of Seven — the Huronia Museum and the Huron Ouendat Village beside it, and the harbourfront's restaurants; Penetanguishene's Main Street runs down to the harbour with its own murals, the town dock and the museum in the old train station. Lunch is on either; the chauffeur waits in the harbour lots.

The route

Highway 400 north to the Highway 93 exit past Barrie, Highway 93 north to Midland, Highway 12 to Penetanguishene and Sainte-Marie — an hour and a half from Maple or the VMC, an hour and three-quarters from Thornhill or Kleinburg. Honey Harbour is reached from the 400's Port Severn exit on Muskoka Road 5. Nothing about the route is difficult, and the routing estimate's hour and fifty is about right without the 407.

Which vehicle

A Luxury SUV for a family with boosters at $25 each; an Executive Sprinter for grandparents-included or two families sharing the day; a Premium Sedan for a couple's King's Wharf evening. The Sprinter's bay carries the marsh's canoe kit and the island's day bags.

What the chauffeur replaces

The four or five stops of a day that a family car turns into four or five parking hunts, the boat's departure that a family running late misses, and the drive home after a full day in the sun. The fare is one number in the booking engine for the hourly day, and for a Sprinter of eight it undercuts two cars; for a family of four it is a comfort purchase and the site says so.

Seasons

The sites run a summer season from spring to Thanksgiving, with Sainte-Marie's First Light candlelight evening in late November the one winter event Vaughan families book; the King's Wharf Theatre is June to September; the islands' boat is May to October; the marsh is year-round with snowshoeing in winter. July and August are the full-day season; September is the quiet one with the same sites and the harbour's cooler water.

Pairing it

The two towns pair with Wasaga Beach, forty minutes west, for a beach afternoon after a history morning; with Barrie for a Kempenfelt lunch on the way home; and with a Muskoka weekend at Gravenhurst as a day trip from the cottage.

The day, in order, for a family of six

A family of six from Woodbridge — two parents, two grandparents, two children of seven and ten — in an Executive Sprinter: pickup at 8:30, Highway 27 north through Elmvale to Highway 93 and 12, the Sainte-Marie lot by 10:15; the film, the palisade, the longhouses and the interpreters until 12:30; lunch at the mission's café; the Wye Marsh boardwalk and the tower at one thirty with the grandparents on the boardwalk and the children in a rented canoe with a parent; the Sprinter to Penetanguishene at three for Discovery Harbour's ships and the interpreters until five; dinner on Penetanguishene's Main Street at the harbour; home by eight with the children asleep by Barrie. Eleven and a half hours of hourly hire, one number in the booking engine, and the Sprinter moved four times without a parking discussion.

Georgian Bay Islands, as its own day

For the island, the day is the boat: Parks Canada's DayTripper leaves Honey Harbour on a reserved schedule, fifteen minutes to Beausoleil Island's Cedar Spring dock, and the family has the island's trails — the Cedar Spring loop, the Fairy Lake trail, the beach — until the afternoon return. The chauffeur drops at the Honey Harbour dock at the sailing and collects at the return; the park's site has the schedule and the reservation, which sells out on summer weekends. A family with young children takes the Miss Midland cruise from Midland's harbour instead — two hours through the 30,000 Islands' southern channels with the boat's commentary and no island to walk.

Sainte-Marie's First Light

In late November the mission holds First Light: the site lit by thousands of candles in the early dark, the longhouses warm with fires, carollers, hot cider, and the palisade in the snow. It is a two-hour evening that Vaughan families book as the one winter Midland trip — a Luxury SUV up at three, the site at five, the candles, and Highway 93 home in the dark with the chauffeur driving a winter road; the mission's site sells the timed tickets in October.

The Huronia Museum and the murals

Midland's Huronia Museum and the Huron Ouendat Village beside it in Little Lake Park — a reconstructed Wendat village of longhouses and a palisade, smaller than Sainte-Marie and older in what it shows — are the alternative morning for a family that has done the mission, and the murals of King Street are the walk between lunch and the harbour; the Midland Cultural Centre on King Street runs the town's concerts. The town's tourism pages list the murals' locations.

Pickup notes

Highway 400 to Highway 93 for Maple, the VMC and Thornhill; Highway 27 north through Elmvale for Woodbridge and Kleinburg, which is the country road and the same time. Give us the sites in order, the boat or cruise time, the seats and the canoe, and the chauffeur confirms the plan the evening before with the sites' hours on it.

Awenda and the beaches

Awenda Provincial Park, twenty minutes north of Penetanguishene at the tip of the peninsula, is the region's beach and forest park: four beaches on Georgian Bay reached by trail from the day-use lots, the Bluff Trail's escarpment walk, Kettle's Lake for a paddle, and a campground that fills. A history morning at Sainte-Marie and an Awenda afternoon on the sand is the summer version of the day, with the Luxury SUV carrying the beach kit from the mission's lot to the park's; Ontario Parks sells the day-use permit. Balm Beach on the peninsula's west shore is the smaller, older beach with the arcade and the sunset, ten minutes from Midland.

What the day costs, in shape

A family of four driving to Midland and back pays fuel, four lots' parking and a driver's day; the chauffeured hourly day is one number in the booking engine, and for six in a Sprinter with grandparents it undercuts two cars and two sets of tickets to the same sites. For a couple's King's Wharf evening the fare is the price of the drive home in the dark after dinner on the harbour, which is the point.

Booking it

Book an hourly day from your Vaughan address with the sites you want in order, the island boat time if booked, the seats and the canoe; the chauffeur confirms the plan the evening before with the sites' opening hours on it.

Book the Georgian Bay history day