Illahee Lodge

Ilahee Lodge was used in the 1950's as a summer camp for boys and girls from southern Ontario with medical needs such as diabetes and heart conditions. There were a lot of us and although we did not all sleep in the house, we had all our meals in the dining room. It is difficult to believe the house is as small as it looks in this photograph.

The front veranda, facing south to the lake, was higher off the ground than is indicated here. Among my very poor black and white photos from that time, one shows 8 or 9 grand, - perhaps 12 feet wide - veranda steps, with 23 children and counselors sitting on them but only occupying about 60% of the area. I recall the veranda being maybe 4 to 5 feet off the ground. I have many fond memories of Ilahee Lodge as a grand old mansion and I am happy to see it has been preserved.

Has it been preserved? I thought it was now a condo.

Wow! I loved going to this place..I was there in the 60's and I loved the house. I never slept in the big lodge part, but I did sleep upstairs in the smaller house that was behind the lodge, also in the rooms like motel rooms. And I loved going to the swimming hole out of town. I also went to the camp up in Huntsville.

There was a councillor at Illahea and I believe her name was Shirley, she was so nice. Great times!!

I, myself didn't attend the Illahee camp. My older sister attended in the 60s. She had a heart condition and went every summer for a couple weeks, right up to when she passed away in 1970. She loved going there. She made a lot of friends. The staff and the volunteers were great with the kids. There were so many activities for the kids. My family became friends with one of the volunteers and my family would get invited to visit her and her family on one of the weeks that my sister would still be there and we got to see how the children lived and interacted. It was a wonderful experience. The house was so grand, the property was so large and close to the lake. I loved going there to visit. Even after my sister passed away, we kept the tradition of going out to Cobourg every summer, from Toronto, to visit with the family we had become friends with, right up to the 1990s when our friend passed away. My husband and I drove out there last summer after being away from Cobourg all these years, and I was so happy to see the lodge is still there, but a little disappointed to see othe large homes on the property. It brought back a lot of wonderful memories.

I went to this camp in the early 70's for a few years but not consecutively. I stayed in the main lodge most of the years i was there. Stayed 1 time in the cabins and was never in the guest house. I loved it! Met a very good friend and we are still in touch today. I learned how to swim, canoe, camp but most importantly,I learned that there were other kids with health conditions too and that I was not alone. I seemed to be the only person with a heart condition as the majority of the kids had diabetes or were epileptics. We were unique but the same. It was probably the most happiest childhood memory i have to this day and I am so grateful that my parents had the good sense to let me go there. The last time I was there, was in the 90's. My finance (at the time- now husband) and I passed by on our way to a wedding in Belleville. It brought happy memories to see it again although I believe that it was changed to accommodate seniors in some capacity but not 100% sure. I managed to go to the new camp in Haliburton shortly after they closed the one in Coburg and met Uncle Dave. He was still the camp director. I wonder if a reunion has ever been held. Wonder what every happened to all the photos that were taken along the years. What a great facility it was.

My name is Barry Cull. I was one of the first open-heart surgery cases of Dr. William Mustard in 1959. I attend camp Illahee throughout the 1960's as a camper, CIT, and counselor. During my time at the camp, the director was Don Anderson, a high school principal from Thornhill. The program director was Dave Sands, who was the recreation coordinator on the 11th floor of Sick Kids.

I am researching a personal essay on the camp and would like to speak with anyone who attended during the years 1960-1970. Please contact me via email at barrycull38@gmail.com

Thank You

I ATTENDED THE CAMP AROUND 1957 OR 1958. THE LAST SATURDAY OF OUR 2 WEEKS, A DANCE WAS HELD AND DAVID SANDS ASKED ME TO BE HIS DATE. IT WAS SUCH AN HONOUR AS HE WAS THE MOST POPULAR CAMPER THERE. I STAYED IN A CABIN WITH 3 OTHER GIRLS. IF MEMORY SERVES ME CORRECT, ONE THE GIRLS WAS SANDY CALVERT. SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY YET IT'S BEEN NEARLY 64 YEARS.

I went to this camp in the last 60's and early 70's. Such a great experience, and fond memories. I remember, one time when we stayed in the lodge, our councellor (I think her name was Ruth) told us that there was a ghost in the house who liked to go swimming in the pool early in the morning, and would slide up and down the staircase on the railing. We got up the next morning early, and the beautiful wooden railing was wet!! It was only later that Ruth told us she'd taken a wet cloth and ran it up and down the railing just before we came down for breakfast. To a group of 8 - 10 year old girls, we were shocked but found it hilarious once we knew we weren't sharing the house with a ghost. I remember that, one year, i fell ill, and had to spend several days in the infirmary which was beside the pool. I also remember that we had to swim two lengths of the pool before we were granted access to the deep end, and were awarded a shoe string to tie around our wrist to show that we could swim well enough. We also would sometimes leave the lodge and go on an overnight camping trip somewhere. The staff were amazing dealing with the various health conditions of the kids, and showing us how to live as normal a life as possible.

I drove by the house yesterday, as we were in Cobourg visitng family, and realized that the land has been subdivided off and large homes have been built to the south of the lodge all the way to the lake. The house just appears to be a beautiful residential home now, but I was excited to see that the pool still exists.

Good memories....thanks Illahee!!

I went to this camp for 3 years before it moved to (sometime in the 70's?) Halliburton and then went to Halliburton till I was to old. Fond memories.

I've driven to the Cobourg location many times and now it is a housing complex.

Thanks to all the people that made this camp possible.

I was probably known as Hardev Singh.

I was about 7 yrs old when I was sent here to give me access to fresh air. I have mixed memories. I remember large kind women smelling of lavender and singing Christian religious songs (like “Onward Christian Soldiers”). As the child of Holocaust survivors who was born in a German refugee camp, I was terrified. As a “blue baby” I really appreciated the fresh air.

"Uncle" Don Anderson was the camp director there in the 60's. He went on to found Camp Huronda, which is the largest camp for children with diabetes in Canada. Uncle Don passed away a few years ago.

I was in Canada in 1962, I was only 15 at the time, got a job at Illahee for the summer and spent the best few months of my youth, the camp was all boys when I was there and remember we all had to carry two cubes of sugar with us for all the diabetic kids, one time I was out on the lake in a canoe with another counselor when the wind changed and started to take us out, no matter how hard we paddled we were not making any headway back in, we eventually made it back in but taught me a valuable lesson on a big body of water.

I am now 76 years age and still remember my fabulous summer there and all the fantastic people that I met, I can remember going back to T O on bus with the tears streaming down my face at leaving

My dad Mark Rines went to this camp in the early 70s and loved looking back at these pictures and hearing everyones stories! He says hello to trudy johnson (the nurse), mabel bell smith (the cook who made him his celiac muffins), Terry walters (cabin leader), and his bunk mates Dave. Thanks for all the great memories!

Don Anderson was a math teacher at Thornhill Secondary School and hired me to work at Illahee in 1962. I met many fine counselors like Mike Gibbs and one particular camper named John Wildman who displayed great energy in spite of health issues. It was my first experience dealing with kids with diabetes and checking and recording results of testing strips. There were some children at camp who also suffered from epilepsy and we received special training in this area. What a great summer job dealing with great kids and staff.

PS The swimming pool was a bonus.

Hi!

My family bought Illahee Lodge 11 years ago.

Love reading about the stories told and a few people have stopped by and shared pictures with us!

We absolutely love this home.