Pottageville is an unincorporated community located in northeastern King Township, in

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 C ...

, Canada. It is near Schomberg. It is named for one of its early settlers, Edward Pottage.

Ecology

Parts of Pottageville, particularly the ecological areas outside the village, are located on the northern face of the sensitive

Oak Ridges Moraine The Oak Ridges Moraine is an ecologically important geological landform in the Mixedwood Plains of south-central Ontario, Canada. The moraine covers a geographic area of between Caledon and Rice Lake, near Peterborough. One of the most sign ...

. Characteristic of other parts of the moraine, the ecological areas of Pottageville exhibit a range of features.

Pottageville Wetland Complex

The Pottageville Wetland Complex is a provincially significant 7.8 km²

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

complex composed of 43 individual wetlands. The wetland consists of 93.1% swamp, 6.3%

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...

and 0.6%

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as ...

. A diversity of soil types is present in this complex, including: humic and mesic (63%);

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

and loam (16.7%);

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

(15.9%); silt or marl (2.6%); and fibric (1.8%). The site is principally palustrine (93.6% with inflow, 3.6% without inflow), with small areas which are of riverine (2.2%) and isolated (0.6%) nature. The vegetation found within the complex is also varied, though primarily

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

(62.6%). Other constituent vegetation includes coniferous trees (16.5%), tall shrubs (11.1%) and dead trees (3.5%).

Pottageville Southeast Upland Forest

The Pottageville Southeast Upland Forest, situated north of Happy Valley Forests, is a 0.9 km² forest on the north-facing slope of the Oak Ridges Moraine. It consists primarily of

Maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

, Beech and Hemlock trees. A number of creek valleys, containing tributaries of the Holland River, are found within the forest. It is classified as a regionally significant Life Sciences

Area of Natural and Scientific Interest Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an o ...

by the Government of Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

Pottageville Swamp

The Pottageville Swamp is a 6.58 km² provincially significant ''Life Sciences Area of Natural and Scientific Interest''. The swamp complex includes a 2 km² section ''Pottageville Swamp North'', a deciduous swamp which extends north from Highway 9 and consists largely of

muck Muck most often refers to: *Muck (soil), a soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland Muck may also refer to: Places Europe * Muck, Scotland, an island * Isle of Muck, County Antrim, a small island connected by sand spit to Portmu ...

overlaying glaciolacustrine deposits. The southern extent of the swamp is a 5.27 km² area of "''poorly drained soils''". The swamp was originally contiguous with the

Holland Marsh The Holland Marsh is a wetland and agricultural area in Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. It lies entirely within the valley of the Holland River, stretching from the northern edge of the Oak Ridges Moraine near Schomberg to the river mo ...

, but became isolated from it during the 1920s when the land was prepared for agricultural use through drainage projects, which has had a "''drying effect''" on the bog The swamp and bog were classified via the International Biological Program.

Climate

Pottageville has a continental climate moderated by the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

and influenced by warm, moist

air mass In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and humidity. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to l ...

es from the south, and cold, dry air from the north. The Oak Ridges Moraine affects levels of precipitation: as an air mass arrives from

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

and reaches the elevated ground surface of the moraine, it rises causing precipitation.Cf. Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
Rouge River Watershed Plan Report
(2007), 15.

Notable Features

From the late 1950s until 2009, Pottageville was the home of the Toronto Gymnosophical Society. The society had become known affectionately as Glen Echo Nudist Park, a

nudist resort A naturist resort or nudist resort is an establishment that provides accommodation (or at least camping space) and other amenities for guests in a context where they are invited to practise naturism – that is, a lifestyle of non-sexual socia ...

. It boasted a 10,000 square foot clubhouse, a spring fed pond for swimming, volleyball courts and many acres of wooded recreation where members could camp or construct their own cottages. The camp was owned and operated by Mary & Edward Todorowsky. Pottageville is home to a closed airport, identifier CA-0295. A narrow gravel strip is what is left over after an attempt to have an airport. A nearby water ditch was dug to allow float-equipped aircraft to land there. The locals got together and forced the closure.

References

Notes

External links

Map of Pottageville Swamp, indicating forests and wetland areas
from the

Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority The Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority is a conservation authority established in 1951, and is among the oldest in the Canadian province of Ontario. The LSRCA is responsible for the waters, wildlife, and plants within the Lake Simcoe water ...

Website referencing the airport ID.
Showing a picture of the landing strip and float-plane waterway.
{{Communities of King Township Communities in King, Ontario