The Legend of Sandy Lake and the Giant’s Heart

By Guy Scott

Sandy Lake, also known as the Lake of Spirits, near Lakehurst is a strange lake. Its waters are a greenish hue and fish caught in the lake come out silver, and quickly change colour when exposed to the air. The lake varies greatly from very shallow at the famous Sandy Lake Beach to very deep across the lake. Sandy Lake can also reverse its flow: draining into Buckhorn Lake at low water, but when Buckhorn Lake is at high water, the creek reverses and water from Buckhorn Lake flows into Sandy Lake. Very bizarre indeed!

But the outstanding feature of Sandy Lake is the Giant’s Heart. It is a natural rock formation at the southern end of the lake. When the sun is just right, it can be clearly viewed from the Lakehurst Road, just a few yards out into the lake. It is about 3 feet or less under the surface of the lake and the heart really stands out from the shore. The heart-shaped formation is at least 50 feet in diameter and is a purple hue in colour or sometimes bright red or even pink: all colours associated with hearts. On certain days when the wind hits just right, the heart seems to produce ripples, or as some claim, it pulses like a real heart beating!

The heart is not one piece of solid piece of granite, but rather broken into thousands of small pieces. In the winter, the ice over the heart is much darker than the rest of the lake. In the spring, the ice melts first over the heart, producing a hole effect in the ice over the heart. Legend has it the ‘warmth’ of the heart caused these phenomena.

Of course, there must be a legend behind it. There are several stories about the Sandy Lake heart, but they all involve local native lore. Sandy Lake was a favourite haunt of local Hurons (Wendat). One young native princess from the area fell in love with a young man, but so great was her beauty, there were many other rivals for her hand in marriage. According to native custom in this legend, the strongest warrior was often chosen as the winning husband.

Unfortunately, the love story had an unhappy ending. The Lakehurst area was caught up in the battles of the Iroquois Wars. A fierce battle was fought on the shores of Sandy Lake between the two forces. Legend has it the local Hurons sent their children up the Miskwa Ziibi River to safety and made their stand at Sandy Lake. To prove his bravery, the prospective husband fought like a lion, but ultimately was killed in the battle. The princess refused to flee and stayed behind to be near her true love. Alas, she too perished in the battle. Her body ended up in Sandy Lake where her heart floated to the south end and lives on in the Giant’s Heart: a symbol of eternal love.