Bigwin Inn [Paperback]

Douglas McTaggart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1991

Bigwin Inn was once billed as North America's largest, most luxurious summer resort and the largest resort in the British Commonwealth, an elegant hideaway for the rich and famous. This fabulous collection of vintage historical photographs takes us back in time to the Gatsby-like era of Bigwin's heyday in Ontario's Muskoka Lakes district -- an age of sleek mahogany launches, glamorous masquerade balls, performances by Count Basie and Duke Ellington, and Hollywood stars in the Tea House. The story of Bigwin Inn constitutes an unforgettable chapter in Canadian history. Today, redeveloped and refurbished, Bigwin continues to cater to thousands of visitors and guests each summer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Boston Mills Press; 1st edition (September 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550460358
• ISBN-13: 978-1550460353
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,738,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A time machine back to an island inn from a Gatsby-like era, July 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Bigwin Inn (Paperback)

Bigwin Inn encourages the protection of a unique
landscape and its built environment by examining
Bigwin Island's environmental heritage, the
archaeological heritage of its First Nation burial
grounds, the nautical heritage of the steam yacht
Bigwin and the rare architectural heritage of the
Bigwin Inn complex.

McTaggart states, "If the great legacy of Bigwin
is to survive as testimony to an important part of
the country's identity, the landmark demands immediate
heritage designation, structural stabilizaiton and
protection against the implications of an ill-
defined future". Star columnist Christopher Hume
wrote, "As McTaggart rightly points out, "Bigwin
was the perfect embodiment of an era, a time when
man's ability to master nature with massive and
indestructibe projects was very much in vogue."
The complex consists of numerous buildings-some
huge, some small; some public, some strictly utilitarian
- but all designed with an eye to the environment-physical,
cultural and social. Even as it falls apart, the
Inn remains a magnificent structure. By contrast,
the majority of contemmporary buildings in Muskoka-
mostly cottages-though smaller and more intimate,
are at odds with everything around them.
The difference is that Bigwin Inn's designs assume
the full range of architectural possibilities.
The context is history, not some ersatz notion of
a Muskoka style, or of local color."

Bigwin Inn was presented to Her Royal Highness
Princess Juliana of the Neterlands in memory of
the Royal Family's stay at the resort during World
War II and of the fiftieth anniversary of the end
of World Warr II. "Princess Juliana was pleasantly
surprised and delighted with Mr. McTaggart's book
Bigwin Inn. The book brought back so many good
memories of the time she and the little princesses
spent at the resort. It is sad to see such a
beautiful place fall into a state of disrepair.
An inn with such a historical past should only but
be preserved,wrote her First Secretary.

"Members of the Ojibway trive have visited Bigwin
Island each summer since the 1800s to pay homage
to several of Bigwin Island's First Nation burial
grounds,"McTaggart states. Al Bigwin of the Alderville
Reserve recently wrote, "My wife and I visited Bigwin
Island two years ago. We were delighted to have
secured much prior knowledge from the book Bigwin
Inn."

Patrons of the resort included Ernest Hemingway,
Franklin Carmichael,Clark Gable, Carole Lombard,
John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Longfellow,
Os-Ke-Non-Ton, PM John Diefenbaker, Glenn Gould,
Cameron Peck and Glenn Miller. Lois Maxwell, popular
for her recurring role as Moneypenny in the
series of James Bond spy film classics and for her
Sun column, wrote, "Bigwin Inn, the nostalgic book
...chock-a-block with vintage black and white photographs
and color plates from the 'thirties has jolted into
mind, scenes, scents and images of elegant people,
dancing in the moonlight and hard work. As a 15-year old,
I fibbed about my age so as to work there as
a waitress one summer...I thank you for those
memories of my youth and innocence, Douglas McTaggart.
Bigwin Inn is a winner!

Mahogany launches, flappers, fortunes won and
lost, big bands, trains, gangsters, prohibition,
steamers, black tie masquerades in the dance
pavilion, opera and film stars lounging by the
Rotunda hearths...
Bigwin Inn by Douglas McTaggart will
take you there...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revisit the Grand Old Lady1, April 30, 2002

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bigwin Inn (Paperback)

When we were senior high school and university students, I couldn't think of a better way to spend your summers, than working at Bigwin Inn before going back to school in the fall. I spent the summers of 1963 and 1964 there playing the piano in the band. Bigwin Inn became a very special place to most of us who spent time there. I didn't take many photos and now wish I had, but this great book can bring back a lot of your memories because it has lots of photos taken at all stages of this great Inn's life, as well as a history of this grand old Inn.

Relive your memories with this great book!

5.0 out of 5 stars Revisit the Grand Old Lady1, April 30, 2002

By 

Don Firth (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bigwin Inn (Paperback)

When we were senior high school and university students, I couldn't think of a better way to spend your summers, than working at Bigwin Inn before going back to school in the fall. I spent the summers of 1963 and 1964 there playing the piano in the band. Bigwin Inn became a very special place to most of us who spent time there. I didn't take many photos and now wish I had, but this great book can bring back a lot of your memories because it has lots of photos taken at all stages of this great Inn's life, as well as a history of this grand old Inn.

Relive your memories with this great book!