White Otter Castle is a locally famous log home on the shores of White Otter Lake in the Kenora District of Ontario, Canada. It was built by Jimmy McOuat, the son of Scottish immigrants, starting in 1914 when he was 59 years old, and finishing a year later. The building was Jimmy’s labor of love, meticulously constructed entirely by hand. He felled local red pine trees and cut all the logs himself, some weighing over 700 kg, neatly lifting them into place using a block and tackle, an incredible task considering that the “tower” is four stories high! He brought the trim, hardware, flooring and windows by canoe from Ignace on Agimak Lake, requiring 15 portages on each trip. People marvel at the quality of construction, each log carefully dovetailed and fitted into place, with beautiful chinking between the logs.
Jimmy lived in his castle for several years, supporting himself through fishing, trapping, and working in local timber camps. He had a beautiful garden, and although living alone, was gregarious and a good friend to many, and beloved of local children. Sadly, he went missing in the winter of 1918, and his body was discovered by rangers in the lake in the spring. Apparently he drowned after getting tangled in his fishing nets.
The Castle, although abandoned, became a local landmark and a favorite place to visit by canoe in the summer, and by snow machine in the winter. Time and weather took its toll, however, and the building deteriorated over the years. Local residents took it upon themselves to restore the building, and much work was done in 1994 and in 2021. It is now recognized by the Province of Ontario as an official historic site, and is part of Turtle River Provincial Park.
The Castle remains isolated on the banks of White Otter Lake, but is still a popular place to visit. Many people come by canoe starting in Ignace on Agimak Lake, and traverse the same 15 portages as Jimmy did when he brought in his building materials (and any time he wanted to visit friends and obtain supplies). For the less intrepid, the castle is now accessible by motor boat in the summer or by snow machine in the winter. Tours by float plane are also popular, starting from CJD9, the Ignace Water Aerodrome.
The Castle in MSFS
I have created White Otter Castle as a scenery element in MSFS. There is no airport, runways, or other infrastructure. Just as in the real world, you will need to locate the structure on the shore of the lake, land, and tie up at the dock or park on the beach. To make it a bit easier, I have included a point of interest called “White Otter Castle.” If you have POIs turned on in the sim, you should see the indicator. You can also locate the POI in the World Map and set it as your destination.
Notes
To install the Castle, unzip and place the folder titled "mulberrywing-white-otter-castle" in your community folder.
To see the float plane docks you will need to download the Seaplane Asset Library from flightsim.to and place it in your community folder. Many thanks to 30West for providing this great library!
A wonderful video describing the history and construction of White Otter Castle can be found here.
This is my first attempt to construct a significant building using Blender. I’m not at all familiar with the intricacies of the program, so I had to construct the castle by placing each log individually, and then applying the chinking, much as Jimmy did himself. (Although, I have to be honest, my undertaking was not quite as arduous as Jimmy’s!) Hopefully the result is satisfactory.
16 days ago
smoothflyer