Part 3 of the History of the Hidden Lake area.
Friends of the Carp Hills recently interviewed Allyson Zeitz, Jennifer Zeitz, and Rosemary Zeitz, three of four sisters who grew up on a 250 acre farm in the 1960’s and 1970’s in an area now called Hidden Lake in the village of Carp. Their farm was a “paradise” for learning about nature. Over time the land was sold off for development. Their story tells us how much this edge of the Carp Hills has changed over 70 years, but also how nature has adapted and learned to live in what remains.
The Farm Years: 1950’s to 1980’s.
Walter Zeitz immigrated from Germany in 1951. He had a degree in genetics and animal husbandry and wanted to be a farmer. He worked at the Experimental Farm as a research assistant and then at Health Canada. He met Pamela, a nursing student, and they were married in Ottawa in 1953.
In 1956 they bought a 250-acre farm in Carp from Charles and Juanita Snelgrove. (See our article from 2017: Carp Memories of Juanita Snelgove.) The farm stretched from modern day Juanita Avenue west to Holland Hill/Murphy Side Road and north to the Concession Line (roughly the location of the snowmobile trail).
The farm originally had four historic log barns and a milking shed. The long laneway to the house from Carp Road was lined with huge Elm trees, which eventually died from Dutch Elm disease. Corn fields grew up to the edge of the wetlands where Hidden Lake houses stand today. The family rented some land to Ted Carruthers, who pastured cattle on the Ridge into the 1960’s.
What today is called “Hidden Lake” is really a beaver pond. Before the 1960’s it was a wetland, which can be seen from the 1945 aerial photo below. Beavers disappeared in the Carp Hills due to trapping and logging. In more recent times, a large brush fire burned the ridge in 1955. (See our 2020 article Carp Ridge Fire History.) Beavers returned to the area in the 1960’s and 1970’s when the cattle were removed. Trees and vegetation regrew. Conifers regrew around the large wetland, which became a pond due to beaver activity. Trees that died when the wetland flooded became safe havens for Great Blue Heron nests. The pond and its wetlands continued to expand until 1990 when nearby development drove the beavers out. Today the pond is about 1.25 meters at its deepest point.
The sisters describe their parents as “environmentalists” and their farm as a “paradise” for learning about nature. Recreation centred around the pond. They had a rowboat for exploring it, they hiked around it, and they skied across it in winter. Swimming was not an option due to the leeches. The girls had a microscope and examined water samples. They describe their mother Pam as a naturalist. She painted landscapes and planted young trees on the farm taken from the woods by the pond. She taught them about the plants and lichens. And she volunteered at Huntley Centennial Public School to teach crafts. She also hosted classes at the pond where the students collected leaves and other specimens for their craft projects.
They remember routinely seeing a lot of wildlife: deer, porcupines, foxes, bears, and many birds. Herons nested in a rookery at the north end of the pond. Whip-poor-wills sang non-stop in the humid summer nights. They could hear wolves and coyotes at night. One year Walter Zeitz regularly saw a Canadian Lynx during his two- to three-hour daily rambles. There were many frogs and salamanders, indicators of a healthy woodland ecosystem.
When Walter Zeitz died in 2007, the family scattered his ashes in the pond.
Story from Rose. I remember one Christmas (when I was in high school) my oldest sister Lisa was home from university for the holidays. It was a gorgeous evening and the full moon cast an amazingly strong light over the farmhouse. Lisa got this wonderful idea to go for a night ski. The two of us left and skied up to the pond. We reached the pond and then the wolves began howling. My sister was thrilled and I was terrified! She was fascinated at how close they were and confirmed they were indeed wolves. I didn’t waste any time looking for them and told her I was scared and going home. I literally flew over the snow to my Mum awaiting our return in the kitchen. I had my skis off a blanket around my shoulders and was sipping a hot drink by the time Lisa made it back. We laughed about that for years.
Carp Begins to Grow – the 1970’s.
The Zeitz’s sold their first parcel of land in the mid-1970’s in preparation to fund their four daughters’ university educations later that decade. Developers built residences on a new road called Snelgrove Drive. Eventually houses were built to create Ridgeview Drive.
Elsewhere in Carp between 1976 and 1999, developers built new streets and houses on Cavanagh Drive, Glenncastle Drive, and Inniskillin Drive.
In the 1976 aerial photo above, new houses on Snelgrove Drive are visible. Stubs for Juanita Avenue and Charlie’s Lane are created. The brown field will become houses on Ridgeview Drive. The Zeitz farm, laneway, and outbuildings are visible north of Snelgrove. By 1999 the east side of Carp has grown substantially.
During this time, Carp still retained its small village vibe. People asked permission to use the Zeitz property for cross-country skiing and were allowed to create a ski trail with markers that connected to a wider network. The Zeitz family also allowed the local snowmobile association to create and maintain a trail on the northern edge of the property.
Paradise Lost – the 1990’s and 2000’s.
Major changes came after the Zeitz family sold a second parcel of land in the 1980’s.
Hidden Lake development finally began on the second parcel in the late 1990’s with clearing of land near the pond. Hidden Lake Crescent, Charlie’s Lane, and Seagram Heights were built over a period of 14 years and were mostly complete by 2014. Carp was also growing in other areas, adding Jensen Court, Frances Colbert Avenue, and the beginning of a new development on Meadowridge Circle off Donald B. Munro Drive.
Both sisters remember how the clearing of land south of the pond affected wildlife. The beavers left. Rose saw a fox family disoriented by the tree cutting and blasting as the land was levelled. Wildlife retreated deeper into the Carp Hills.
As the village’s population increased, unauthorized use of the family’s remaining large property around the pond became a problem. Developers falsely told buyers that they had access to the Zeitz’s land. No trespassing signs were ignored and removed. Trails were created. Garbage was left. Campfires became a problem. Illegal duck hunting occurred without landowner permission and too close to houses. Someone even installed pipes to try to drain the pond
Eventually Pamela Zeitz decided to sell their final piece of paradise. In 2015 a young farmer who shared the family’s land stewardship and conservation values bought the 121-acre property surrounding the pond and built a house. (Read our 2018 post about Hidden Lake’s new resident.)
Pamela Zeitz passed in 2021 at the age of 96.
Hidden Lake Today
As noise and traffic from construction abated, birds and animals returned to the land around the pond, albeit in lesser numbers and diversity, and adapting to human presence.
- Signs of recent beaver activity are visible along the path in Hidden Lake Park.
- The park is an eBird hotspot with over 130 bird species recorded. Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons stalk the shoreline for crustaceans, frogs, and fish.
- River otters frolic in the pond, indicating there must be a healthy population of fish and amphibians to sustain them.
- Painted turtles, Snapping turtles and threatened Blanding’s turtles emerge to lay their eggs where they have for decades in what are now lawns and gardens.
- Coyotes patrol along the woodland edges and in backyards.
Allyson Zeitz muses philosophically about the changes she’s seen at Hidden Lake. “Changing times, changing needs, and a changing landscape most certainly, but always an incredibly beautiful place to be observant of the natural world.”
Learn More
Hidden Lake Park is a 5.6 hectare (14 acre) park with a 650 meter gravel pathway. It provides the only public access to the former Zeitz farm.
We are publishing an interpretive guide to the park this year.
Part 2 of the History of the Hidden Lake area: Carp Memories of Juanita Snelgrove – We interviewed Juanita Snelgrove in 2017 when she was 101 years old. Read about her memories on the farm before the Zeitz family and about the fire of 1955.
Carp Ridge Fire History – Our 2020 article about fires in the Carp Hills.
Hidden Lake’s New Resident – Our 2018 article about the purchase of the final parcel of the Zeitz farm.
Beavers: Partners in Wetland Management – Our 2020 article about the importance of beavers to the Carp Hills.
Coming soon – Part 1 in our Hidden Lake area history trilogy about the farm below the pond when it was owned by the McCord family from the 1830’s through to the Snelgroves in the 1950’s.
