Harcourt Park

Harcourt Park is a nonprofit cottaging corporation established in 1959 by the Sumcot Development Corporation in the Municipality of Dysart et al, Haliburton County in Central Ontario, Canada.

Geography
Harcourt Park is located in Harcourt Township near the small community of Harcourt, Ontario in Haliburton County. The park is approximately 240 km northeast of Toronto and approximately 250 km west of Ottawa. It has 6900 acre of land, 18 lakes, and 600 surveyed properties that are individually leased in favor of private ownership. The Town of Bancroft is the closest community nearby, with a population exceeding 1,000.

Ownership
Ownership of property within the park is titled to Harcourt Park Inc., and is subject to private lease, granting a membership in the corporation, a single vote and the eligibility to become a member on the volunteer Board of Directors. Annual lease fees provide services within the park, including road maintenance, fish stocking, community events, and security. Eight lakes in the park have cottages and four permit motorized watercraft: Straggle Lake, Little Straggle Lake, Allen Lake, and Kennaway Lake.

Recreation
The Harcourt Park Marina, located on Little Straggle Lake, serves as a local grocery store, hardware store, and marine mechanic. Nearby, the Harcourt Park Community Center serves cottagers' many recreational and social needs. A network of over 50 km worth of trails extends its way through Harcourt Park, including the northern terminating end of the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs’ "E" Trail.

Natural history
Harcourt Park is situated between the two drainage basins: spring and rainwater feed into its lakes, which empty into either the Trent River or the Madawaska River systems. Due to extensive logging of the region in the early portion of the twentieth century, the majority of Harcourt Park's interior is made up of new-growth maple, along with a scattering of fir, hemlock, cedar, and birch. Wildlife within the park is extensive and diverse because of its proximity to Algonquin Provincial Park and its relative isolation, and includes black b and includes black bears, moose, white-tailed deer, coyotes, otters, beavers, and a number of other smaller mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles. A variety of fish are found within the park's various lakes, including Smallmouth bass, Largemouth bass, Rock bass, Lake trout, and Rainbow trout. Harcourt Park is protected from further cottage development and owns all logging rights.