At the southern tip of mainland Ontario, where a slender sandspit reaches out into Lake Erie, Point Pelee National Park covers only about 15 square kilometres, making it one of the smallest national parks in the country. Long before it was granted that status, however, this marsh and woodland had served as a seasonal gathering place for the Caldwell First Nation, one of Canada's many Indigenous peoples. Archaeological findings suggest that people lived and camped across the point for thousands of years before European settlers arrived in the early nineteenth century. The area's marshes and shoreline drew fishers and market hunters who took waterfowl and fish for profit, and tourism keeps the surrounding towns busy to this day.
By the opening years of the twentieth century, naturalists and nearby residents had begun to see the value of protecting the point, not only for those who would come after them but also to guard its birds against the market hunting that was thinning their numbers. Convincing the federal government to act was no quick matter, as weightier concerns held officials' attention. The park was at last established in 1918, among the first of its kind in Canada. For decades a scattering of privately owned cottages stood within its boundaries, and only after these leases were gradually bought back could the land be managed wholly as protected habitat, under the care of Parks Canada.
