There is probably no better kept secret in all of Ontario than Lion’s Head, a Shangri-la on Isthmus Bay halfway up the Bruce Peninsula’s Georgian Bay coast.  This picturesque port with its natural harbour and sand beach looks east across the broad waters of what Samuel de Champlain called La Mer Douce, the Sweetwater Sea.

The rugged limestone outcroppings of the Niagara Escarpment gave the place its unique name.  The original settlers had first called their community Point Hangcliffe after a shelf of rock that jutted out over the bay.  Then they noticed a massive rock formation further along the escarpment that resembled the head of a lion.  Time, weather and erosion have erased the resemblance but the name remains.

The village’s natural harbour offers a full-service marina and is a superb destination for sea kayakers.  Visitors can stroll past stately cut-granite homes built in the 19th and early 20th century by businessmen and lumber barons.  Unique shops and artisan’s studios await as does some great pub style food, comfortable accommodations, and, for the naturally inclined, the Bruce Trail with its wide variety of plants, pot holes, and lookouts.   

Lion’s Head offers visitors, not only a chance to step back in time, but a base from which to explore the wonders of the centre of the Bruce Peninsula.

In 1957, when the old Lion’s Head arena was finally condemned, the men and women of the village formed an army of volunteers.  Donating thousands of hours of their time, they pounded together the trusses and raised the walls of what the Toronto Daily Star called “The new do-it-yourself hockey arena.”

Believe It or Not!

John Wood, a Lion’s Head resident, commemorated their fund raising and hard work in poetry:

“We really do appreciate All the hard work that was done the entertainment and the meal

Were really number one. We hope it was successful And will be repeated every year

So we’ll never again have to worry About an arena for up here.”

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