A Good Place to Rest
Viewed from the lake, the sand beaches and wetland delta on the northwestern shore are striking features that for more than 5000 years have enticed aboriginal hunters and gatherers, local residents and visitors to pull up their canoes, to rest and explore. From here, generations of woodsmen travelled upriver along the meandering Little Bonnechere River in search of pine-laden forests. Early travellers burdened with supplies often chose the Long Portage, originating just to the south, to avoid the seemingly endless oxbows on the river. The Round Lake Shoreline site continued to be used as a transitory campsite well into the 20th Century. Bonnechere Provincial Park was created in 1967 and now protects this legacy.
A Long Journey
Approximately 5000 years ago, a projectile point made in white exotic stone was lost in a distant land. It began its journey as fragment of rock in an ancient quarry in Ohio or Upper New York State where, in the hands of a skilled aboriginal craftsman, it was carefully flaked into a valuable implement. As a tool or trade item, the point was carried over hundreds of kilometres, eventually arriving at Round Lake. When it washed ashore on a stormy day in May 1994, this ancient tool opened a new door to a world of archaeological research up the Little Bonnechere River.