Cottages For Sale on Chemong Lake

Owning a cottage on Chemong Lake

Chemong is the Kawartha lake closest to Peterborough, starting only about 8 km northwest of the city. It is long and narrow, roughly 14 km from end to end and about a kilometre across, so it feels more like a wide river with neighbours on both sides than a big open lake. Being this close to town makes year-round living and a daily commute realistic, and the south end around Bridgenorth and Chemong Park is one of Selwyn's main built-up areas.

The two shores grew up as different townships. Bridgenorth sits on the east side in what was Smith Township, and Ennismore lies across the water on the west side. The James A. Gifford Causeway links the two by road. To the north the lake reaches toward Curve Lake First Nation and Harrington Narrows, where it opens into Buckhorn Lake and the wider tri-lakes boating area.

Everything around the lake now falls under one municipality, the Township of Selwyn, formed from the old Smith and Ennismore townships and Lakefield. That keeps zoning, building permits and rental rules simpler than on lakes split among several townships. Selwyn does not license short-term rentals, so the questions buyers face here are more about boat traffic, weed growth and winter access than red tape. At the north end, the lake reaches up toward Curve Lake First Nation and Harrington Narrows.

• Closest lake to Peterborough
• Bridgenorth causeway
• Year-round homes
• Tri-lake boating

History of Chemong Lake

The lake's name comes from Anishinaabe words, though the exact meaning is debated. A 1790 map labels it Wubscommoug, which has been read as place of clay earth, and later spellings include Cimung, Cheemaun and Shemong. Through the 1800s it was officially called Mud Lake. It became Chemung by 1902, was formally registered under that spelling in 1965, and took its current spelling, Chemong, in 1978.

Curve Lake First Nation, at the north end, traces its community to an Anishinaabe settlement around Curve Lake and Mud Lake in 1829, and the reserve was set aside in 1889. On the settler side, the lake divided the old townships of Smith and Ennismore. They merged in 1998, joined with Lakefield in 2001 and became the Township of Selwyn in 2013.

A lake on Peterborough's doorstep

Few cottage lakes in Ontario are this close to a full-service city. Peterborough's hospital, shopping and schools are a short drive from most of the shoreline, so a property here can work as a full-time home as easily as a weekend place. Bridgenorth is grouped with Chemong Park as one of Selwyn's main urban areas. The trade-off is that the lake rarely feels remote, and being close to town means plenty of local boats on summer weekends.

The causeway and the fading ice road

The James A. Gifford Causeway carries the road across the lake between Bridgenorth and Ennismore, so getting from one shore to the other takes minutes. In winter, people used to drive straight across on an ice road as well. The Kawartha Lake Stewards Association reported that the Chemong ice road barely existed for three winters in a row, and in 2018 it was usable for only about two weeks in late January and early February. Do not count on ice for winter access.

Fishing after the zebra mussels

Chemong has long been a mixed fishery, with smallmouth and largemouth bass, walleye, yellow perch, muskellunge, carp and panfish. Zebra mussels, which arrived with boating and fishing traffic, have filtered the water and made it noticeably clearer. Walleye are reported to be less abundant since that change, so many anglers now spend more time chasing bass and panfish. Check the current Fisheries Management Zone 17 regulations before you fish.

Water quality and weeds

Chemong is one of the lakes the Kawartha Lake Stewards Association has tested for E. coli at swimming spots, but long-term phosphorus monitoring in the middle of the lake has had gaps. In 2020 the association was still looking for a volunteer to sample there. Elders at Curve Lake First Nation have described more algae blooms and invasive Eurasian watermilfoil in the area in recent years. Clearer water from zebra mussels can also let weeds grow in deeper water, so look at the shoreline in midsummer before you buy.

Renting and building in Selwyn Township

Selwyn does not license short-term rentals. The township does say operators can be held responsible for guests, and its noise, open-air burning, parking and property standards by-laws apply to every property. Since the whole lake sits in one township, permit questions for docks, additions or septic work all go through Selwyn's planning and building staff. Shoreline work may also need approvals from the conservation authority or Parks Canada because the lake is part of the Trent-Severn Waterway.