Go Home Lake is a lake in west central Ontario in the Township of Georgian Bay, District of Muskoka. Go Home Lake was created in the 1950's by the construction of two dams. It was named after Go Home Bay, immediately downstream. Loggers would send timber down the Musquash River and meet steamers at Go Home Bay, which would transfer timber to various mills around the Great Lakes and then "go home", hence the name.
Go Home Lake is approximately 5 miles (8 km) long and ranges from 1/2 to 3/4 miles (800 - 1,200 m) wide. Of Muskoka's 1600 lakes, it is the 14th biggest by size. Its length runs in a north-south orientation. The lake is fed at its most northern point by the Musquash River. It then empties back into the Musquash River through a control dam at the south end of the lake, and into Go Home River at the north end of the lake. Both the Musquash and Go Home Rivers empty into Georgian Bay. Go Home Lake was opened up and divided into lots which were sold beginning in 1958-59. Go Home Lake is considerably more rugged and rockier than other Muskoka lakes. Both the "New Cut" (a man made channel), and the "Haunted Narrows" link the south end of the lake to the north. The "Haunted Narrows" received its name from the eerie sound caused by the movement of rocks on the bottom of the channel that can be heard in the dead of night due to the strong current flow.
There are approximately 450 cottages on Go Home Lake, the vast majority of which are water-access, as well as two marinas. The closest marina to the Hwy. 400 exit is Minor's Bay marina, which is built upon the location originally called 'Potter's Landing' in the 1950s. The further marina from the Hwy. 400 exit is Go Home Lake Marina. Both marinas offer a general store, dockage, parking, boat launching, and refueling facilities to cottagers. Minor's Bay marina also has a public telephone, as well as marine mechanical services.
The Go Home fire tower once stood on the NW side of the lake overlooking the channel. It was one of the last manned towers used in Southern Ontario and came under the jurisdiction of the Parry Sound Fire District in the early 1970s when the Ministry of Natural Resources was once called the Dept. of Lands and Forests.
Recreational activities are popular on this lake, including: fishing, canoeing, cliff-diving, water-skiing, wakeboarding, tubing as well as the annual regatta.
There is a large proportion of crown land on this lakes shoreline. The Township of Georgian Bay fines campers who violate their bylaw regarding camping on municipal shorelines.
Famous quotes containing the words home and/or lake:
“One of the most important findings to come out of our research is that being where you want to be is good for you. We found a very strong correlation between preferring the role you are in and well-being. The homemaker who is at home because she likes that “job,” because it meets her own desires and needs, tends to feel good about her life. The woman at work who wants to be there also rates high in well-being.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)
“Such were the first rude beginnings of a town. They spoke of the practicability of a winter road to the Moosehead Carry, which would not cost much, and would connect them with steam and staging and all the busy world. I almost doubted if the lake would be there,—the self-same lake,—preserve its form and identity, when the shores should be cleared and settled; as if these lakes and streams which explorers report never awaited the advent of the citizen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)