Past History of the Inn
Meldrum Bay was once a bustling logging and mill town, named after a small town in Scotland. In times past, ships ferried freight and passengers the eighteen miles across the North Channel from Blind River and from Southern Ontario and Michigan, steamships loaded the locally-milled lumber on the Meldrum Bay docks, and commercial fishermen and yachtsman kept the wharfingers busy.
The Inn was build by the Victoria Harbor Company in 1876. In July 1891 Mr. James McDonald from southern Ontario purchased the building and in 1899 leased it to Mr. James Fitzpatrick.
Mr. Fitzpatrick named the building the Grand Manitoulin Hotel, and he purchased the hotel in 1906. Over the years the name changed to Meldrum Bay Hotel and Meldrum Bay Inn & Restaurant, however, the spirit of this old lady has not changed yet.
The historic Inn Meldrum Bay is a central figure in much of the history of the west end of the Manitoulin; the Inn has been a meeting place in the village almost as long as there have been visitors travelling to Meldrum Bay.