Manitoulin Island
— — an island with lakes of its own.
Not only on a wall.
“The largest freshwater island in the world, set into the top of Lake Huron. Anishinaabe families have lived here for thousands of years; six First Nations still hold the land. There are more than a hundred inland lakes on the island itself, lakes inside an island, some of them with their own small islands. The shoreline is white dolomite. The water reads green on calm mornings.
Manitoulin Island, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Manitoulin Island lies in the northern reach of Lake Huron, separating Georgian Bay from the North Channel. At 2,766 square kilometres, it is the largest island in any freshwater lake in the world. Six First Nations communities — Wiikwemkoong, M'Chigeeng, Sheguiandah, Aundeck Omni Kaning, Sheshegwaning, and Zhiibaahaasing — hold reserve land across the island, and Wiikwemkoong remains the only officially unceded reserve in Canada. The island is reached by road across the swing bridge at Little Current, or by the Chi-Cheemaun ferry from Tobermory during the summer season.
Manitoulin contains 108 named inland lakes within its own perimeter. Lake Manitou, at roughly 104 square kilometres, is the largest lake on the largest freshwater island in the world; Lake Mindemoya, in turn, contains Treasure Island, an island within a lake within an island within a lake. Bridal Veil Falls at Kagawong drops about eleven metres over a dolomite ledge into a clear plunge pool reached by a short trail from the village. The Anishinaabek call the island Mnidoo Mnising, spirit island.
The Chi-Cheemaun ferry runs from early May to mid-October between Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula and South Baymouth on the island's south shore. The crossing takes about two hours. Wiikwemkoong holds its Cultural Festival each year on the August long weekend, one of the longest-running powwows in North America, drawing dancers and singers from across Turtle Island. Outside the summer season the island slows sharply. Winter brings deep snow off the lake; the Cup and Saucer Trail is most often walked between June and October.