Giants Tomb Island is an island with no permanent residents located in Southern

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It measures approximately five kilometres from north to south and two kilometres from east to west.

Location

It is part of the

Awenda Provincial Park Awenda Provincial Park is a provincial park in Tiny Township, Simcoe County in Central Ontario, Canada, located on a peninsula jutting into Georgian Bay north of Penetanguishene. The park occupies an area of and was established in 1975. It is cl ...

close to

Penetanguishene Penetanguishene , sometimes shortened to Penetang, is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay. Incorporated on February 22, 1882, this bilingual ( French and English) community has a populat ...

and Midland. To the west there are other islands,

Christian Island Christian Island is a large island in Georgian Bay close to the communities of Penetanguishene and Midland, Ontario. The island, with its neighbours Hope Island and Beckwith Island, is a Ojibwa reserve, known as Christian Island Indian Re ...

, Hope Island and

Beckwith Island Beckwith Island is the eastern of three islands in southeastern Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada. Beckwith Island and the attached "Little Beckwith" are part of the Beausoleil First Nation. Geography The island's highest elevation is above se ...

Beausoleil Island Beausoleil Island; Île Beausoleil; is an long island in the municipality of Georgian Bay, Ontario, Georgian Bay, District Municipality of Muskoka in Central Ontario, Central Ontario, Canada. The island is named after Louis Beausoleil, a Métis ...

, part of the Georgian Bay Islands National Park is only a few kilometres to the east. The western shore is strewn with large granite boulders, and out into the bay.

History

Giants Tomb Islands name comes from its resemblance to a giant

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

, supposedly that of the giant native deity, Kitchikewana.

Giants Tomb Island Lighthouse

In 1892, the Department of Marine contracted Alphonse Tessier of Penetanguishene to construct a lighthouse to help warn mariners of Giants Tomb Island. Completed in 1893, the Department of Marine published the following details: * Construction = Small wooden tower with dwelling attached painted white, the tower surmounted by an iron lantern painted red * Height = 37 feet * Light = Fixed white, elevated 40 feet above the level of the bay, and visible 11 miles Later several amendments were done from the lighthouse keepers and after reconstruction to an unwatched flashing light in 1936, Giants Tomb Island Lighthouse remained in service until 1969.Information about the Lighthouse
/ref>

Leisure

Giants Tomb Island is popular for day trips with boaters as there are excellent sandy beaches and safe swimming. The south tip of the island or the beach on the east side are easy to access by kayak or canoe on a calm day. There are many shore line access points off the mainland, from Awenda Provincial Park, or from public beaches at Sawlog Bay and Kettle's Beach.

References

External links

Information about the Lighthouse
Islands of Georgian Bay {{Ontario-geo-stub