About Jackson's Landing
The Beginning…How Jackson’s Landing got its name
A sheltered bay on the south shore of Lake Simcoe, protected by the peninsula known as Jackson’s Point, has provided safe harbour for native canoes, sailing ships, slow-moving steamers and all manner of pleasure craft. For two hundred years, it has also drawn to its shores many of the colourful and romantic characters that make history so intriguing.
Trolleyrest: postcard dated 1909, on back reads: "This is D. King's house at Jackson's Pt right where the cars stop"
The first owner of the point and the harbour (then called a “landing”) was a dashing young Royal Navy captain, William Bourchier. He and his lovely new bride Amelia Jackson Bourchier were granted 1,000 acres of prime forested land by the British Government as a bonus for his outstanding service pushing back the invading American forces during the War of 1812. But the adventurous young couple didn’t stay long, soon turning the property over to William’s brother who then sold the point and lakeside land to Amelia’s father.
The spirited Bourchiers departed to pursue a promising career with the Imperial Forces in India, which turned out to have tragic consequences. Amelia died, in India, after giving birth to their first child and, left without ambition for the adventure and glamour of a career in the great British Empire, the grieving William returned to the south shore of Lake Simcoe with their young son to establish a quiet and elegant manor home which he named “the Briars”.
Meanwhile Amelia’s father, the illustrious and controversial John Mills Jackson, had built a comfortable log cabin at the point, just across the harbour and as the settlement nearby thrived and grew, the little harbour became known as Jackson’s Landing.
This was the Jackson's Point station 1900
Jackson was an adventurous English gentleman from a wealthy and influential family who owned property in England, the Caribbean and British North America at Quebec. Oxford educated, he had the sophistication and means to live wherever he wished in the world – and he chose to live here at the Point. He soon became a partner in one of the first successful commercial steamships on the lake, the Peter Robinson (later known as the “Simcoe”).
Jackson's Point Regatta, 1910
Jackson had created quite a name for himself on his arrival in Upper Canada in 1806, a time when the Lake Simcoe area was still virgin wilderness and not available to settlers. He had settled temporarily near the town of York (now Toronto) and quickly became known to the colony administrators, a group he considered incompetent and self serving, as a radical reformer. At a dinner party hosted at his home, accompanied by plenty of wine and whiskey, he expressed his view of the Lieutenant Governor as “a damned rascal” who had “plundered the country”. Some of his guests later quoted him as shouting “damn the governor and the government, push about the bottle” as they fled the scene. At that time such talk was considered libellous and seditious, and Jackson was condemned by a vote of the colony’s House of Assembly and subject to punishment. The Governor, however, knew that Jackson was well connected in London and would be a powerful adversary and wisely chose not to pursue action against him. Jackson left the country until things calmed down. His famous quote, however, is inscribed on the chandelier which hangs over the table in the dining room at Jackson’s Landing Bed and Breakfast.
Parade through Sutton to Laurier political meeting in Jackson's Point, September 28, 1908
Several years later, Jackson again challenged the Governor and his cronies when he published a major critique of the colonial government (a photocopy of which we keep in our collection). The Assembly condemned the work as a scandalous and seditious libel but again the Governor hesitated, knowing that the fight would soon spread to London where Jackson’s brother was a Member of Parliament. Jackson was finally vindicated when a new governor was installed and in turn appointed him to the position of Justice of the Peace. He later became the leading advocate for the area’s first church – the original St. George’s Anglican. A portrait of Jackson wearing the traditional white wig now hangs in our front hall.
Reservations: Call 1-905-722-7752 or email info@jacksonslandingbb.com