Bala Bay Inn – The historic Muskoka Inn enters its second century

May 2026

Generations of families have always enjoyed getting away from the crowded cities and having a leisurely vacation in a relaxed, peaceful and serene environment, perhaps on a lake, with the sound of rustling leaves from tall, mature trees. For generations of Ontarians, the lure of the Muskoka, Algonquin and Haliburton Districts have been irresistible, with trains, steamships and then automobiles bringing families to the area summer after summer, dating back as far as the late 1860s.

The picturesque Muskoka village of Bala has long been a destination for vacationing and entertainment. For over a century-and-a-half, numerous hotels, resorts and cottage communities, both privately owned and rental cottages, have dotted the lakes of the region, welcoming guests summer after summer.

One of the oldest hotels still in operation is the Bala Bay Inn. Opened on 17 July 1910 by journalist E.B. Sutton, it was the first all-brick hotel in Muskoka. Originally known as the Swastika Hotel, the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany led to the name of the hotel being changed to Sutton Manor. The three brick swastika emblems were covered over with metal siding.

Some of the amenities at the hotel included a ballroom, riding trails and lawn bowling.

For the first three decades of its existence, the Swastika Hotel/Sutton Manor was a refined 35-room resort where wealthy Canadians and Americans came to enjoy peaceful vacations in a serene setting away from the big cities. One of the most famous guests was then-American President Woodrow Wilson.

In 1945, the name was changed to the Bala Bay Lodge, and in 1998 to the Bala Bay Inn.

The late 20th and early 21st centuries saw the Bala Bay Inn’s fortunes dip, and for six years it was closed to the public, used only as employee housing for the JW Marriott Rosseau Resort & Spa in nearby Minett.

Greg Knight, a developer and owner of nearby Clear Lake Brewing Co. and Muskoka Beer Spa, took over operations of the historic building on New Year’s Day 2024 and began restorations. The inn re-opened to the public on 28 June 2014.

Today, the hotel has all the modern amenities but retains an atmosphere that conjures the early 20th Century. The main lobby features a grand dark mahogany staircase, one of the inn’s most impressive historic features, leading to the second floor guest rooms. The original tin ceilings, which would have been painted white to give the illusion of hand-carved plaster, also remain.

Guests can relax in the Bar Lounge, which retains the inviting pine bar over which drinks have been served for eight decades. Originally, the barroom served only men, as was customary for the time, since it was considered indecent to indulge in alcohol with members of the opposite sex. Women had to drink in their own room at the other end of the hotel.

The Ghost Kitchen, a reference to the inn’s spirt occupants, features pub fare, sandwiches and grills. The on-tap beer includes several excellent brews from the inn’s sister property, Clear Lake Brewing. No breakfast served at the inn, however.

Bala Bay Inn has also become a destination for weddings and other special events. The hotel is also rumoured to be haunted, with the most famous ghostly resident being founder E.B. Sutton. Encounters with this apparition date to the days immediately after his death in 1917, apparently in room #319, when it’s said his spirit returned to let his daughter-in-law know that there is indeed an afterlife by knocking on a door. He’s been heard and seen ever since.

Another notable ghost is a girl in a long dress, most frequently seen on the grand mahogany staircase leading from the lobby to the second floor.

Grand mahogany staircase in the lobby of the Bala Bay Inn. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.

As such, Bala Bay Inn is one of the many ghost tours you can experience across Ontario.

For concert goers and those looking for a hoping nightclub, The Kee To Bala is a short walk from the hotel. Bala became known as a premier musical destination in 1930, after Gerry Dunn transformed a former ice cream parlour and drug store into a concert venue and dance hall. Dunn’s Pavilion billed itself as the place “Where All of Muskoka Dances,” and hosted many of the popular big band orchestras of the day, ranging from Duke Ellington, Guy Lombardo, the Dorsey Brothers and Louis Armstrong Jr.

Now known as The Kee To Bala, bands such as Rush, Arkells, Blue Rodeo The Tragically Hip, Aerosmith, The Ramones and The New York Dolls have all played The Kee. Canadian music icon Kim Mitchell and The Sam Roberts Band are regular performers at the historic venue.

Celebrated Canadian author Lucy Maude Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, spent two weeks in the summer of 1922 in Bala. The area made such an impression on her that the setting for her novel The Blue Castle, the fictional town of Deerwood, was inspired by Bala.

Bala’s Museum is a privately run museum is run out of a former boarding house where Montgomery ate her meals; a 2-story, white and green trimmed clapboard house, resembling the Green Gables home of the book.

As the Bala Bay Inn begins its second century of operation, you can take a step back in time when women in long dresses could be seen gliding regally down the stairs, hems brushing against the carpet as the walked, escorted by gentlemen in neatly pressed suits.