The Point Abino Peninsula projects southward from the north shore of Lake Erie about 18 kilometers / 11 miles west from the Canada/US border at the Niagara River. Geographically, it is a dense Carolinian forest situated on a base of sand left behind when the glaciers which formed the Great lakes receded over the underlying limestone reefs.
Local legend has the name being derived from Pere Abineau, a Jesuit priest who is thought to have conducted missions to the First Nations peoples in the area in the 1690s. The area was sparsely settled with farms in the 1700s and early 1800s, and was the site of an extensive sand mining industry conducted by the Point Abino Sand Company between 1870 and the early 1900s. The Sand Company had docks on both the east and west shores of Point Abino which were connected to the sand and limestone quarries by a small railway. The Point Abino area is now primarily a mixture of preserved Carolinian sand dune forest and residential use.
In 1892 Isaac Holloway’s son in law, James Stafford and his brother, Richard Stafford, formed the Point Abino Association to acquire the south end of Point Abino which was no longer required by the Point Abino Sand Company for its operations in order to develop the area into a summer family community. This endeavour was successful, and the Association became a not-for- profit corporation under the laws of the Province of Ontario in 1924. Lots were sold, houses were built, narrow roads were created, and presently there are approximately sixty families residing on the Point.
The Point Abino Association functions as do many other property-owning homeowners’ associations in Ontario, owning and maintaining the common land and setting rules for their use. Membership is diverse: several Canadian provinces and many US states are represented by seasonal residents, and there is a significant and growing population of permanent residents as well.
Many families have come to the Point in recent years; several have been there for generations. All enjoy the beauty and serenity the private nature of the Point affords.