Cottage care in MacTier

Two of every three homes here are seasonal

MacTier is the village where my patch crosses into Muskoka: it belongs to the Township of Georgian Bay, in the District Municipality of Muskoka, and the whole township counted just 3,441 year-round residents at the last census. The sharper number is this: two of every three homes in the township stood empty of year-round residents at that count, spread around Go Home Lake, Six Mile Lake, Gloucester Pool and the rest of the water that makes this corner what it is. The Ontario Northland coach still stops in the village on its run between Toronto and Sudbury, but most places here empty out when the leaves drop. That's cottage watch country: $99 a visit on the bi-weekly plan through the winter, and openings and closings at the shoulders, $349 to open a typical road-access cottage and dock in and out booked together for $749. Depending on where you are around the township, the drive from my place can tip past 30 minutes; when it does, Zone 2 adds $50 to flat-rate jobs, and I'll tell you which zone you're in on the first call, not on the invoice.

Between seasons, the repair board and a storm call work the same in MacTier as everywhere else I go: flat prices and photos of everything.