Lion's Head is a community in the municipality of

Northern Bruce Peninsula The Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula is located on the Bruce Peninsula in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. It is a popular vacation spot in the summer for its water sports and cottaging, and in the winter for snowmobiling. The municipality ...

Bruce County Bruce County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It has eight lower-tier municipalities with a total 2021 population of 73,396. It is named for James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, the sixth Governor General of t ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is located at the midway point of the

Bruce Peninsula The Bruce Peninsula is a peninsula in Ontario, Canada, that divides Georgian Bay of Lake Huron from the lake's main basin. The peninsula extends roughly northwestwards from the rest of Southwestern Ontario, pointing towards Manitoulin Island, wi ...

, about halfway between

Owen Sound Owen Sound (2021 Canadian Census, 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat, seat of government of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi River, Pottawatomi and Sydenham River ...

and Tobermory, just east of Ferndale on Bruce Road 9. Lion's Head is located on the

45th parallel north The 45th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 45 degrees north of Earth's equator. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. The 45th parallel north is often called the halfway point between the ...

, halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. The town is named after the resemblance of a lion's profile in the rock formation of the

Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is an approximately discontinuous, arc-shaped but generally northward-facing escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States. The escarpment begins south of Lake Ontario and circumscribes the top of the Great Lake ...

. The first post office opened in 1895. It is a well travelled holiday spot on the coast of

Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () 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 its northwest is t ...

. The

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

rock formations make it a scenic area for

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. In some parts of Europe, canoeing refers to both canoeing and kayaking, with a canoe being called an 'open canoe' or Canadian. A few of the recreational ...

, kayaking, hiking the Bruce Trail, rock climbing and visiting the marina-lookout by car. Bruce Peninsula District School is the only secondary school on the Bruce Peninsula north of Wiarton, and one of the few schools in Ontario to go from Kindergarten to grade 12. There are accommodations, restaurants, shops, and galleries located in Lion's Head. There is also a marina,

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

, hospital, bank, library, pharmacy, grocery store and several churches in the town. Lion's Head is under the

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the State police, provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. The OPP patrols Provincial highways in Ontario, provincial highways and waterways; protects Government of Ontario, provincial government buil ...

(OPP) jurisdiction. There is also the Northern Bruce Peninsula Fire Department, which operates four trucks in the region. Lion's Head and the surrounding region experiences four distinct seasons. Winters are often very cold and wet with periods of significant snow accumulation, often a result of

lake-effect snow Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises through colde ...

. Summers are warm and comfortable with lower humidity when compared to the rest of southern Ontario, as the Bruce Peninsula is largely influenced by the surrounding lake breezes of

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

and

, which have a moderating effect on temperatures.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Lion's Head had a population of 624 living in 299 of its 419 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 597. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

References

External links

Communities in Bruce County Designated places in Ontario Former villages in Ontario Georgian Bay {{WesternOntario-geo-stub Populated places on Lake Huron in Canada