Hopkins Bay Hideaway

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Hopkins Bay Hideaway Rustic cabin for weekly rentals on Rainy Lake, ON; perfect for fishing trips and making family memories; email or message for availability and rates

A beautiful, clear, calm morning on Rainy Lake. Happy Labour Day Weekend everyone!
06/09/2026

A beautiful, clear, calm morning on Rainy Lake. Happy Labour Day Weekend everyone!

01/09/2026

Sound on for nature’s beautiful symphony on this last evening of August.

16/08/2026
A great story about the mermaid!
29/07/2026

A great story about the mermaid!

*The Lady of the Lake--Rainy Lake Mermaid*

Many stories surround the Rainy Lake Mermaid — from those who believe she was created as a tribute to a drowned woman to others who say she exists because a real mermaid perched on a rock and turned to stone. However, none of these stories are true. Our beloved mermaid was created by a man named Gordon Schlichting during the summer of 1934 while he was spending the summer on Dr. Henry Lysne's island doing construction work. There happened to be extra material and free time in the evenings, so Gordon decided to use them to build a monument.

He chose to make a mermaid because a relative had a boat named "The Mermaid" and it seemed the appropriate thing for Rainy Lake. He first constructed a form out of wood and steel rods in the shape of a mermaid and brought it to a small rock outcropping near Copenhagen Island. Before filling the form with cement, he drilled holes into the rock and inserted steel rods, then twisted chicken wire inside the holes and form to reinforce the concrete and fasten the structure to the rock. He poured the concrete, and after it had hardened, Gordon spent the next two months chiseling out the rough shape. It was very demanding work, and he nearly quit several times, but lucky for us, he didn't! By the end of that summer, the mermaid was complete.

Gordon went back to school and didn't give the mermaid much thought beyond telling his classmates what he had been up to that summer. He met his wife at college; they married and decided to honeymoon on Rainy Lake, where he decided to show her his creation. He was surprised to see she had lasted, as logging boats used to wrap their chains around her as an anchor, and he expected her to be pulled into the water at some point. She also became popular with tourists — much to the dismay of her neighbors. Gordon would joke that while he had built schools and churches all over Minnesota, he would most likely be remembered only for his mermaid.

While we aren't sure about that — she certainly was a labor of love and remains loved to this day. Thank you, Gordon, for sharing your creativity with a small corner of the world.

Perfect morning coffee view!
26/07/2026

Perfect morning coffee view!

Best smell in the world = laundry drying on the line! 🧺
22/07/2026

Best smell in the world = laundry drying on the line! 🧺

Good night, Sunday Island.
15/07/2026

Good night, Sunday Island.

14/07/2026

Find information about the current danger, activity and fire restrictions of forest fires and grass and brush fires across Ontario.

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Fort Frances, ON

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