The story of Len’s Cove Marina starts on The Beaches – not on Big Rideau Lake, but in Toronto. It’s where Len & Shirley Horsfall started their family, raising two young boys, Doug and Steve, during the baby boom of the early 1950’s. About that time, the Horsfalls bought a cottage in the Kawarthas, where Mom and the kids would spend their summer holidays and Dad would commute on weekends. It was such an exciting place for Doug and Steve! While Dad was away, Shirley and the boys would row a mile to the cottage resort down their lake for groceries and ice. In 1956, a new boat provided the chance to cruise up and down the Trent visiting friends on Pidgeon and Stoney Lakes. Those were good times. But the pressure-cooker sales environment at the JA Wilson Lighting Company was getting to Len. The cross-Canada business trips and time away from family was stressful, and they were looking for a slower, less hectic lifestyle. They made several inquiries, first to buy a resort on the same lake as their cottage, then a resort in Haliburton, and finally a motel near Ottawa, all with no luck. Then things started to change. While on a family vacation in Florida in 1958, the Horsfalls answered an ad in the Toronto Globe and Mail for a resort for sale in Portland, Ontario. After visiting the resort in February, the Horsfalls and their boys purchased Browne’s Cottage Court and Marina on May 1st, 1958. Len and Shirley had no resort experience exactly; Shirley studied typing and bookkeeping at school, and Len was pretty handy around the cottage. But between the two of them, they knew they could make it work. The resort’s brochure described “large, spacious, well-kept lawns with comfortable chairs, providing fun and relaxation for old and young alike. A freezer for your catch is also available. A flat-bottom boat suitable for an outboard motor, is provided with each cottage. A tested well supplies good, safe drinking water. A price card will be forwarded upon request.” The name “Len’s Cove Marina” followed in 1959. The design for the original logo was worked out during a party in the kitchen of the marina house where Len and Shirley drew designs in the steam on the window. A legacy was born. The first few years, the Horsfall boys were in their glory. Doug recalls life on Big Rideau lake that summer. “We liked to use the rental boats which consisted of a fleet of flat bottomed punts with 3hp Evinrude motors. If they weren't booked, we occasionally got to step up to the old 5hp or newer 5.5hp Johnsons which ran on cedar strip skiffs. I started working there in 1959 with a limited schedule. I was only allowed to work 7 days a week, 9 hours a day for the grand total of $25.00 per week. At 12 years old, I thought I was a millionaire. Times were tough and money tight for a number of years as my parents built the business and paid off the mortgage. No holidays then. Just work, but we all loved it.” Early on, Len’s Cove Marina had a full time repair facility and built a number of custom boats as large as 35 feet. Staff consisted of a Scottish Shipright and a mechanic as well as Mom and Dad Horsfall. Big boats were hauled out by railway with smaller craft by chainfalls over the water in boat houses. There were 15 outside slips and 3 mooring buoys in the bay. Gas cost 39 cents per gallon, or 10 cents a litre! The Horsfalls sold a couple of Evinrude engines per year and a few Canadian cedar strip boats, something Doug says started them on the path to growing the business. “Our first boat show was in Ottawa, in the Coliseum in 1960 where we had a display of Shepherd Boats from 16' to 25'. We sold the 25' and two 16' models, and outboard and an I/O at that Show. The outboard with a 75hp Evinrude was sold to the Hitsman family who remain customers to this day. Since Portland Marina was a Johnson outboard dealer at that time, we decided to sell Mercury outboards in 1966 to differentiate ourselves on the Lake. And of course we’ve been with Mercury ever since. I remember the first Merc engine we sold was a 65hp model called the 650EL, the largest Mercury we sold that year. It went on the back of a 14’ Cliffe Craft made in Gananoque. There were no franchises back then – if a customer wanted a certain boat, you drove down to get it and put a motor on it. A lot simpler back then!” On the home front, Shirley took pride in sending their customers Christmas cards with a special verse she wrote inside. They were designed by a local artist and depicted various goings-on around the marina. It was important for Len and Shirley to thank their customers for their business of the past year. There were lots of long days, but good times, as the Horsfalls settled in to a different lifestyle and growing as a family on the Big Rideau. As Len’s Cove grew in size, the Horsfalls soon realized that keeping that close one on one contact and building personal relationships with customers was both the best long term plan and most rewarding of activities. The ties that were forged in those early years still bind the marina together in so many ways. Second, third and even fourth generations of families still migrate to Len’s Cove Marina for just that reason. Len and Shirley had the ability to make it feel unique and special while still being as comfortable as home.