Sunny Rock: The Foundation of the Finnish Village, Snowdon Township, Ontario Canada

Sunny Rock: The Foundation of the Finnish Village, Snowdon Township, Ontario Canada

Van Dompseler, Barry

Sunny Rock Lodge Bed & Breakfast
Host contact: Moore, Sally

Marsh, John
Department: Geography

TP-185

2000

U-Links Office and online

Snowdon

History of the Sunny Rock Lodge Bed and Breakfast

This project examines the history of the Sunny Rock Lodge Bed and Breakfast building and the surrounding property, located on the Burnt River and Canning Lake in Snowdon Township. The lodge has a rich and diverse history associated with the Finnish immigrants who developed their summer cottage on the river into a year-round resort called the Sunny Rock Villa.

This project examines the history of outdoor recreation in Southern Ontario, the history of Finnish immigration to Toronto, Ontario, and the history of the Lodge building and the people who have been associated with it from 1927 to the present. Archival research and personal interviews were conducted in order to collect numerous fragments of the Lodge's colourful past. The development around the Sunny Rock property also spawned an entire community of Finnish immigrants who flocked to the area and attempted to recreate there what it reminded them of in their native Finland. Some aspects of the Finnish village are examined here.

Trent University