THE VOICES OF FAIRY LAKE...

...as sung(?) by me

Fairy Lake in Southampton, today. The spraying water fountain in the distance is approximately where Samuel Matheson heard voices singing on the ice in the winter of 1905.

My fascination with folklore is no secret. I even initiated a series on some of my favorite Canadian folklore legend stories earlier this year on Wrights Lane, but here is one about as close to home as you can get...Would you believe, from Fairy Lake, just beyond my back yard in Southampton.

It was in the winter of 1905 that Samuel Matheson, an Ice Harvester, was on his way home from the famed Walker House, on a dark and blustery night. He was well fortified against the cold, as he trudged along the shore of Fairy Lake, making his way home.

As Matheson passed he saw and heard something very unusual in the middle of the ice-covered lake. It was a bonfire, and around it he heard "Fairies and Goblins" singing this tune:

Round and Round the happy Chorus
Round and Round the Fairy’s ring
Round and Round til sleep comes o’er us
Then to beds, in bands we’ll wing. 

The next day, sadly, as his trusted horses Clumpy Dumpy and Old Mick towed his ice harvesting wagon across the lake, just at the spot where the bonfire had been seen the night before, the ice cracked and the whole team went under. With luck some neighbourly wood cutters managed to pull Sam free of the ice and cold water, but they could not save Clumpy Dumpy and Old Mick, who were lost to the depths of the lake.

While I do not frequent the Walker House which to this day remains a downtown landmark; believe it or not, on some late winter evenings when I walk my dog on a nature trail that now surrounds Fairy Lake, I swear that I too hear voices out on the ice and jovially singing "Round and round the happy chorus..." I have been known to join in with the Fairies and Goblins when I hope no one is listening "...round and round the fairies ring...", but that's my secret.

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Just for the interest of readers, the average depth of Fairy Lake has been measured to be about 1.7m, but the silt and soft loam can be measured to reach 3.5m in depth before a solid bottom is found. The basin of Fairy Lake was a former Channel of the Saugeen River during the end of the last Ice Age, when melt waters flowed over the surface of Bruce County into what was then Glacial Lake Algonquin.

In an 1857 survey map of the area, a body of water called Small Lake was drawn. This same year a sawmill operated from the outflow of the creek downstream of what was to be re-named Little Lake (and subsequently Fairy Lake). A tanning factory operated by Issac Bowman and Henry Zinkman gained permission to take water from the east bank of the lake in 1880 to use in the production of leather hides.

My home on Grey Street North and adjoining four southerly properties, now sit on the site of the tanning factory which burned to the ground at the turn of the 20th century.

Today. Fairy Lake is located right in the community's core, offering a pleasant respite from a bustling tourist community in the middle of summer. A frothy fountain splashes in the centre of the lake while a nature trail wraps itself around its perimeter.

Swans, ducks and geese can be fed, the corn available at the dispensing machines along the lake's edge. On sunny days, snapping turtles congregate on their favourite log to soak up some sunshine, often finding their way into my backyard to lay eggs. Huge carp can be spotted swimming just beneath the water's surface.

The Fairy Lake pavilion, constructed by a team of high school students, plays host to popular Sunday evening band concerts in the summer months. An observation deck at the opposite side of the lake was added by the same students a year ago.

I am indeed a neighboring benefactor...."Round and round til sleep comes o're me."

A Tanning Factory and sawmill were first located on the eastern bank of Fairy Lake in the late 1800s. *Note: the blue ink mark to the left of this circa 1890 photo indicates where my home at 62 Grey Street North is now located. The area is known to old Southamptonians as Tannery Hill.

The exact same view of Fairy Lake as above, only a good 140 years later. Now a natural paradise. My home is on the hill, hidden by the trees to the left-centre of the photo.