Qualla: Toronto Islands: The Peninsula a Storm Turned Into an Archipelago https://qualla.com/toronto-islands en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Toronto Islands: The Peninsula a Storm Turned Into an Archipelago https://qualla.com/toronto-islands Toronto Islands: The Peninsula a Storm Turned Into an Archipelago: Introduction https://qualla.com/toronto-islands/ On April 13, 1858, a violent storm struck the sandy peninsula stretching south of Toronto and tore it from the mainland. The channel it carved was wide enough to make the separation permanent, destroying two hotels in the process. What had been a continuous spit of sand deposited over millennia by currents carrying sediment from the Scarborough Bluffs became, in a single day, the Toronto Islands. The Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation had long considered this land sacred - a place of healing, leisure, and relaxation. Today, 15 islands shelter Toronto Harbour from Lake Ontario, harboring an airport, an amusement park, four yacht clubs, multiple beaches, and 262 homes in the largest urban car-free community in North America, all reachable only by ferry from a downtown terminal a ten-minute ride away.

Read more: Toronto Islands on Qualla

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/z/8/toronto-islands-wp/dpz8-toronto-islands-the-peninsula-a-storm-turned-into--intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Toronto Islands: The Peninsula a Storm Turned Into an Archipelago: Sacred Ground, Bargained Away https://qualla.com/toronto-islands/ Before the storm, before the hotels and cottages, the peninsula belonged to the Ojibwa - now the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. D.W. Smith's Gazetteer recorded in 1813 that the peninsula was 'considered so healthy by the Mississaugas that they resort to it whenever indi...

Read more: Toronto Islands on Qualla

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/z/8/toronto-islands-wp/dpz8-toronto-islands-the-peninsula-a-storm-turned-into--sacred-ground-bargained-away.mp3 0:06 2 full Toronto Islands: The Peninsula a Storm Turned Into an Archipelago: Babe Ruth, Tent Cities, and the Hanlan Dynasty https://qualla.com/toronto-islands/ After the 1858 storm created the islands, the Hanlan family became among the first year-round settlers, arriving at Gibraltar Point in 1862. John Hanlan built a hotel at the northwest tip in 1878, and the area became known as Hanlan's Point. His son Edward 'Ned' Hanlan earned int...

Read more: Toronto Islands on Qualla

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/z/8/toronto-islands-wp/dpz8-toronto-islands-the-peninsula-a-storm-turned-into--babe-ruth-tent-cities-and-the-hanlan-dynasty.mp3 0:06 3 full Toronto Islands: The Peninsula a Storm Turned Into an Archipelago: The Fight to Stay https://qualla.com/toronto-islands/ At the islands' residential peak in the 1950s, some 630 cottages and homes stretched from Ward's Island to Hanlan's Point, with a movie theatre, bowling alley, stores, and dance halls. Then Metropolitan Toronto Council decided to replace the community with public parkland. Starti...

Read more: Toronto Islands on Qualla

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/z/8/toronto-islands-wp/dpz8-toronto-islands-the-peninsula-a-storm-turned-into--the-fight-to-stay.mp3 0:06 4 full Toronto Islands: The Peninsula a Storm Turned Into an Archipelago: An Archipelago of Contradictions https://qualla.com/toronto-islands/ The 15 islands are an exercise in coexisting opposites. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport occupies the northwestern tip, handling regional airlines, medevac flights, and private aviation through a pedestrian tunnel opened in 2015 - but the tunnel connects only to the airport, not...

Read more: Toronto Islands on Qualla

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/z/8/toronto-islands-wp/dpz8-toronto-islands-the-peninsula-a-storm-turned-into--an-archipelago-of-contradictions.mp3 0:06 5 full Toronto Islands: The Peninsula a Storm Turned Into an Archipelago: Sand, Current, and Time https://qualla.com/toronto-islands/ The islands exist because of geology and persist despite it. They are composed of alluvial deposits from the erosion of the Scarborough Bluffs, carried westward by a counter-clockwise current generated by the Niagara River's flow across Lake Ontario. In the 1960s, the extension o...

Read more: Toronto Islands on Qualla

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/p/z/8/toronto-islands-wp/dpz8-toronto-islands-the-peninsula-a-storm-turned-into--sand-current-and-time.mp3 0:06 6 full