The Durham Chronicle 17-18 Issue 05

12 The Chronicle January 16 - 22, 2018 chronicle.durhamcollege.ca Community
Seven Mile island's future uncertain
Austin Andru
The Chronicle
Down Seven Mile road in Port
Perry is a once extravagant property
with an uncertain future and
complicated past. Seven Mile Island
is a property with a history so rich,
you can get lost in it. Just ask Peter
Hvidsten, author of Scugog’s Lost
Treasures, and the former editor-inchief
of the Port Perry Star, which
chronicled the entire known history
of the island.
“When I saw it in '81, I was just
amazed by this facility,” Hvidsten
said.
The earliest known owner of the
property was an Albert C. Stephens
in the 1880s. At that time it was
known as Nonquon Island. It was
a comfortable resort for hunters and
fishers.
Today you won’t find hunters, just
dirt-bikers, and fishers stay on the
other side of the lake.
The property cycled through
various owners from 1880 to 1912.
In 1912 it was then purchased by
Thomas Sintzel who lived in one
of the original log cabins. It was
this time under the ownership of
Sintzel that Nonquon became Seven
Mile. The old signage from the
Sintzel years is now tucked away
in a garage.
In 1919, it was acquired by Alex
Ross Wilson who was the owner of
Bachelor brand cigars. Wilson hired
Scottish stonemasons who worked
on Casa Loma in Toronto to build
two large cigars at the entrance. He
erected a 26 room mansion with a
boat house, tea house, dozens of
statues, a fountain, and a swimming
pool.
The period from 1920-1940
marks the golden era of the island.
Bachelor cigars was bought out in
1923 by the Imperial Tobacco Corporation.
Wilson left the tobacco
industry and became vice-president
of Consolidated Press Limited of
Toronto which published The Canadian
Home Journal and Farmer’s
Magazine. In 1925, The Canadian
Home Journal reached 68,000 subscribers,
which doubled to 132,000
by 1930.
During this time, the Wilson’s
were very involved in the community
and often hosted parties at their
large estate.
Today you can still find the two
cigars at the entrance of the property.
However, all of the statues are
damaged, the swimming pool has
been filled in, the boat house is rotting
and the mansion is long gone.
The property fell into disrepair
following the death of Alex Wilson
at 71 years-old in 1941. Wilson’s
wife lost interest and sold the property
to Harry Ely, owner of the
Vankirk Chocolate Corporation
(eventually bought by Hershey).
It was during the time Thomas
Sintzel owned the property that it
became known as Seven Mile Island.
Sintzel lived in the original
log cabin on the property for a short
time before beginning construction
of a large new house, which he
named Delmont Cottage.
In 2002 it was purchased by a
group of artists called Artis Orbus
with a plan to clean and refurbish
the property. However, the costs of
maintenance are far too great.
“The ongoing maintenance was
so tremendously expensive,” Hvidsten
said. “Purchasing it was the
cheapest part.”
Seven Mile is in a constant state
of deterioration, and it doesn’t seem
like anything will be done any time
soon. As of now, the property has
been acquired by the Mississauga
First Nations.
Chief Kelly Larocca of the Mississauga
First Nations says it is too
early to decide what will happen to
the property.
Hvidsten says it’s, “disappointing
to see what has happened to it.” But
he’s going to put his “hat forward
and see what the Mississauga’s are
doing in the future.”
Archival photo (left) courtesy of Scugog Shores Museum and photo (right) by Austin Andru
Photo of the reflective pool at the Seven Mile Island estate in Scugog during the 1920s (left) and what it looks like today.