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The town of Bracebridge, originally called North Falls, was renamed in 1864, with the establishment of the post office. It is possible that Bracebridge was named for Washington Irving’s novel Bracebridge Hall or for a community in Lincolnshire, England. This picturesque town was settled in 1860, with the arrival of John Beal and David Leith.

Provincial Land Surveyor John Stoughton Dennis, acting on government instructions for surveyors, brought his party up the road to Muskoka Bay and proceeded by canoe to the site of Bracebridge in 1860. After a reconnaissance of the Muskoka River, and the country in the vicinity of North Falls (Bracebridge), J.S. Dennis came to the conclusion “that at no point to be found for miles on that branch did the same facilities exist for crossing the stream than immediately at the falls.” Perhaps an easier townsite could have been chosen on more level land in the valley just to the west, but the river led to the falls, and the main road was to cross the falls. This made the location of the town’s centre rough, hilly, and rugged but very quaint and picturesque. Three log huts were built on the north side of the falls within a year.

James Cooper and his brother, Robert, worked to continue the Muskoka Road from the south galls to the north falls. James held land on both sides of the falls. In 1864 he built a tavern while his son, Joseph, operated a sawmill. Alexander Bailey, who had acquired land from James Cooper north of the river, built a gristmill and sawmill at the foot of the falls.

Bracebridge benefitted from this ideal location on the river. It had ample water supply for power and transportation and soon grew into a thriving lumbering, manufacturing, and tourist centre. By 1868 the Ontario Legislature designated Bracebridge as the capital of the new Territorial District of Muskoka. Bracebridge was incorporated as a village in 1875. Two years later, the population rose to 1,600 and, in 1889, Bracebridge became a town.

In 1872 Henry James Bird erected a three-storey, clear-pine-framed woollen mill on the upper part of the north side of the falls at Bracebridge.

Bird had come to Bracebridge hoping that Muskoka would become a sheep-raising district. Prior to Bracebridge, Bird had operated a mill at Glen Allen, in Peel Township, Wellington County, near Guelph. That mill was flooded out by rising water levels in 1870 and 1871.

To support his business, Bird assisted settlers in the acquisition of flocks of sheep and the district became a centre for raising sheep. Muskoka lamb became so popular, it was sold to city markets and became an item on restaurant and dining room menus as far away as New York City.

On June 4, 1873, Bird married Miss Mary Matilda Ney of Glen Allen, and he and his bride made their home above the mill. After a few years of very brisk business, Bird and his wife set about planning a separate home for the family. His choice of design for the house, which became known as Woodchester Villa, was based on the home-building theories of the American author, lecturer, and phrenologist Orson H. Fowler. Fowler had published a book advocating the octagonal shape as a new superior mode of building. Fowler argued that an octagonal home was a more healthy home. Square buildings, he said, did not conform to the spherical forms of nature: “The octagon, by approximating the circle, encloses more space in its walls than the square, besides being more compact and available.”

Bird named his home Woodchester Villa after his birthplace in England. When residents of Bracebridge commented on the unusual design of his residence, he explained he wanted to build “a bird cage to keep my Birds in.”

Woodchester Villa, overlooking the Muskoka River on the north, was truly a classic structure. John Rempel in his book Building with Wood says that Woodchester Villa is one of the largest houses of the octagonal style in Ontario. “It has so many features of Fowler’s octagonal plan that it could be considered the classic example in Ontario.”

The Bird woollen mill operated until 1954, when it was closed because the prospects for markets were so poor that production ceased. Today, Woodchester Villa is a museum operated by the Bracebridge Historical Society and was first opened to the public on June 22, 1980.

Near to Bracebridge are Port Carling and Port Sandfield. In 1860 Vernon Bayley Wadsworth, a survey student, was part of a crew mapping the Muskokas. Vernon shared some observations: “The Indian Village of Obogawanung, now Port Carling, consisted of some 20 log huts, beautifully situated on the Indian River and Silver Lake with a good deal of cleared land about it used as garden plots, and the Indians grew potatoes, Indian corn, and other vegetable products. They had no domestic animals but dogs and no boats but numerous birch canoes.

“I feel sure Lake Muskoka was named after a Medicine Man of ObogawanungVillage, although other residents of that section say that it was named after an Indian from Lake Simcoe. Lake Rosseau, in my opinion, was named after an Indian interpreter named Rosseau who was employed by Governor Simcoe in his treaties and interviews with Indian tribes on Lake Ontario and with the Indians of Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe districts.”

Wadsworth adds, “William King and his Band at Port Carling were removed by orders of the Indian Department from their Village there to the reserve at Parry Island. I inquired of him why Skeleton Lake was so named. He stated that they called it Spirit Lake (Paukuk Lake) for the reason that ghosts and spirits were there.”