The Site
THE SITE
When the Lookout is fully complete it will be much more than a view – it will be a hub of cultural significance, it will foster an interest in our heritage, and it will demonstrate how beauty can be preserved, even from an old landfill site.
Upon completion, visitors and students will find:
An Historical Icon Sculpture created by Marlene Hilton Moore of Simcoe County. The icon sculpture will recognize the First Nations, explorers, settlers and military that traversed the lakes, rivers, islands and portages in the area between Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario. The bronze statue depicts an explorer and a member from First Nations, complete with Eastern Ojibway birchbark canoe.
Information story boards will be located throughout explaining the natural heritage, the County Forest and recreation trails and Fort Willow.
A limestone block amphitheatre which will be used for viewing, concerts, weddings and educational displays.
In addition, the site will include trails, walkways and gardens where aboriginal plantings will be identified in English, French and Ojibway. There will be a public area which will be used for viewing concerts picnics and education sessions.
THE VISTA
From the height of the site, as you focus on the Collingwood Grain elevators at the centre point on the horizon, shift your gaze to the right and you will see the outline of Georgian Bay, part of the largest body of freshwater in the world. Continuing to the right, the Copeland Forest lies at the north western toe of the Oro Moraine, from which the waters carry into the Coldwater River, the Sturgeon River and Willow Creek.
As your eyes return to look straight ahead of you, they will land upon a multitude of nature’s gifts: a Boreal forest, a Carolinian forest, Bogs, marshes and the Nottawasaga River winding its way back to Wasaga Beach. The Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere, rises in front of your sightline. You can also see a portion of the 730 kilometer Bruce Trail wind its way through the wetlands.
As your eyes continue to scan, they will land upon a Canadian National Historic site, Willow Creek Depot. Here is the convergence of the Nine Mile Portage, the Ganaraska Trail and the Trans Canada Trail. The internationally renowned Minesing Wetlands lay before you, a most biodiverse wetlands designated as an Internationally significant Ramsar boreal wetlands. It is almost impossible to find another single location that will provide you with such breadth and beauty of nature.
