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In last week’s Postcard Memories, we met Innisfil settler Francis Hewson and followed his story until the time when his family joined him at Big Bay Point. This week, we continue his remarkable story.
The Hewson farmstead was located at the tip of Big Bay Point. Lake Simcoe was something of a maritime highway, linking Holland Landing and Toronto via Yonge Street with Lake Huron via Barrie’s Nine Mile Portage. As such, the Hewson home sheltered many travellers fatigued by their journeys. Settlers about to jump off into wilderness to take up bush lots, soldiers travelling to and from Penetanguishene via the portage, and fur traders, canoes low in the water with pelts and trade goods, all would rest for a night or two at the Hewson property.
The most famous person to enjoy Hewson hospitality was famed explorer Sir John Franklin on the initial leg of his epic Arctic expedition of 1825. Hewson’s uncle was a Royal Navy admiral, so there was a good chance Franklin, himself a Royal Navy man, knew Hewson by reputation even prior to the explorer arriving on his doorstep.
The Hewson homestead became a prominent landmark, an instantly recognizable point of reference for those travelling on Lake Simcoe. For much of the 19th century, Big Bay Point was known as Hewson’s Point.
Hewson was appointed Simcoe County’s first magistrate. The area was so sparsely populated at that time, his area of responsibility stretched from Holland Landing in the south to Penetanguishene in the north. In his capacity as magistrate, Hewson had the privilege of tying all the matrimonial knots of the district. One of the first marriages he presided over was that of his neighbour, David Soules, who arrived in 1822 and wed shortly after. A much-respected figure, Hewson was known as the “squire of the lake.”
By the 1830s, he was aging, and the rocky soil on the point was frustrating his efforts to produce a thriving farm. Growing tired, he turned his back on Hewson’s Point and moved to Barrie in 1834.
A son, William H. Hewson, left his own mark on Innisfil history as a millwright, building a gristmill and a sawmill at Painswick on the large stream later named Hewson’s Creek. Another son, Francis, moved to Duntroon in Nottawasaga Township and became a leading figure there, rising to become first treasurer in that township.
Francis Hewson died in 1848, followed by Maria two years later.
The Hewson farm stood abandoned for 50 years. Trees and underbrush slowly swallowed the fields, and the buildings rotted. But history wasn’t done with the property yet. It later became home to Robinson House, one of the area’s premier summer hotels of the late 19th century.
