Our Story
From modest beginnings at the Ojibway Island grocery store, Cottage Country Dip was launched in 2013. It began with one flavour and a dream of creating healthy and unique tasting dips for our local cottage country customers. Demand often outstripped supply at the island grocery store and customers frequently asked where they could buy our dip year round. Quickly our seasonal business expanded into a year round enterprise. In 2015 we added two more exciting flavours, Bacon & Kale and Habañero & Lime. This year we introduced Mango & Sriracha to our healthy dip product lineup.
Our popular low calorie, healthy Skinny Dips are available in many fine food stores throughout Ontario including; select Longo’s, Pusateri’s, Sobeys (dairy section) & Foodland.
A Special Place
The Ojibway Island Hotel is at the heart of our story. Located at Pointe au Baril, Ontario, Ojibway Island is part of the famous 30,000 Islands in eastern Georgian Bay.
Rochester N.Y. native Hamilton C. Davis, recognized the beauty of the island and in 1906 built a stately ‘rustic’ style hotel to serve the region’s growing tourist trade. Known as a gentleman in every way, Mr. Davis embodied the style of service that became synonymous with the Ojibway Island Hotel. An immediate success, the hotel quickly became the hub of activity for guests and local cottage owners alike. In particular, the dock. Here was where steamships dropped off supplies, guests arrived and departed, evenings were spent enjoying the sunset and summer romances flourished. Some of the early hotel traditions included; shore lunches, veranda teas, Saturday evening dances, Sunday chapel services, fishing tournaments, sunset promenades and the annual sailing regatta. Guests were so taken with the hotel and the beauty of the area, that they returned year after year, many for generations.
In 1942 Mr. Davis decided to sell the hotel to the ‘Ojibway Hotel Limited’, a group of local cottage owners who were interested in managing the hotel and protecting it from the drastic change that a new owner might bring. The hotel continued to operate successfully for a number of years, but by the late 1950’s the expensive upkeep of the old buildings and falling visitations spelled the end as it did for so many of the grand old resort hotels. In 1959, the hotel was transformed to the ‘Ojibway Club’ with the expressed purpose of providing facilities for sporting, social and community activities for the summer and permanent residents of the islands. Today the ‘Ojibway Club’ offers cottage rentals, summer programs for children and adults, tennis, sailing, docking facilities, a general store and dinning room. The old hotel no longer receives guests but remains as a testament to a bygone era, lovingly maintained by those who cherish the memory of summers past.
