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Nottawasaga Bay is a sub-
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
within Georgian Bay in Southern Ontario, Canada located at the southernmost end of the main bay. The communities located on Nottawasaga Bay are Meaford, The Blue Mountains, Collingwood, Wasaga Beach and Tiny. The western shore of Nottawasaga Bay is determined by the
Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that runs predominantly east–west from New York through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff over ...
, which reaches Nottawasaga Bay between Collingwood and
Thornbury Thornbury may refer to: Places ;Australia *Thornbury, Victoria * Thornbury railway station, Melbourne ;Canada * Thornbury, Ontario ;England *Thornbury, Devon * Thornbury, Herefordshire *Thornbury, Gloucestershire **Thornbury Castle **Thornbury (UK ...
. The southern shore is flat limestone plain, with cedar marshes. The Nottawasaga River flows into Georgian Bay near the southern end of the bay, and onward to the east the shore is predominantly sand dunes and marshes created by the strong predominant northwest winds. This part of Nottawasaga Bay is heavily built up with summer homes. Nearer to Thornbury and the Beaver River Valley there are some vineyards; many apple orchards also dot the area. The river takes its name from the Ojibwe word "Nottawasaga". ''Nottawa'' (or ''Naadowe'' in modern orthography) means "Iroquois" and ''saga'' (''zaagi'' in modern orthography) means "mouth of the river"; the word "Nottawasaga" (''Naddowe-zaagi'' in modern orthography) was used by Algonquin scouts as a warning if they saw Iroquois raiding parties approaching their villages. Thus, the name of the river, in Ojibwe, is ''Naadawe-zaagiing'', "At the Iroquois River-mouth.Translate Ojibwe, Ojibwe-English Dictionary
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Tributaries

''(from west to east)'' *
Bighead River The Bighead River is a river in Grey County in southern Ontario, Canada, that flows from the Niagara Escarpment between the communities along Ontario Highway 10 of Arnott and Holland Centre in the township of Chatsworth to empty into Nottawasag ...
* Beaver River * Nottawasaga River


History

In the early and mid-17th century, Nottawasaga Bay was adjacent to two indigenous First Nations territories: Huronia to the east, which was the territory of the Huron or Wendat people, and the "Petun Country" to the south, which was the land of the Petun, who were their close allies and relatives. In March 1649, during the
Beaver Wars The Beaver Wars ( moh, Tsianì kayonkwere), also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars (french: Guerres franco-iroquoises) were a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th century in North America throughout t ...
, Huron refugees fled across the bay, which was frozen over with ice, to take refuge among the Petun.


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Citations


Bibliography

* * Other map sources: * * * {{Great Lakes Bays of Ontario Bays of Lake Huron Georgian Bay