Neys Provincial Park

Neys Provincial Park is a natural environment-class provincial park on the north shore of Lake Superior, just west of Marathon, Ontario, Canada. This 5,383-hectare (13,300-acre) park includes the historic Coldwell Peninsula and the surrounding island system (added as part of Ontario's Living Legacy in 2000–2001), consisting of Pic Island, Detention Island, and the Sullivan Islands.

The ghost village of Port Coldwell, which lies just outside the park's east boundary, was home to an old railway and fishing community. Around 1879 Norwegian fisherman Ben Almos and his partner LeSarge arrived at the harbour. T.B. Van Every erected a large ice-house with freezer in 1887, shipping south by rail the catch of six boats. By the 1890's Port Coldwell had become a regular port of call for the Beatty and Collingwood line of steamers and a fleet of 11 or 12 boats was docked at the harbour, including tugs of M. McInnes, A.B. Sutherland, Robert Jackson, A. Morrison and John Morrison. The pace of settlement accelerated and by 1904 14 men were employed in the Coldwell fisheries. From Port Burwell (Lake Erie) came Captains Foster and E.D.M. Titus, owners of the first ice-making machine on Lake Superior. Among Captain Titus's earliest employees was A.W. Nuttall, later a pioneer of the Black Bay fisheries and a fisheries overseer. The pre-World War I years also brought William Dampier, Charles Miller, Allan and Donald Murray, and Charles "Tink" Winterton. Prior to 1915, many fishermen sold their catch to the Dominion Fish Company (Booth Fisheries Company) or the Nipigon Bay Fish Company of Rossport. However, the company founded that year by the Nicoll brothers (Thomas, Charlie, Fred, Jack and Frank), formerly of Collingwood, galvanized the Port Coldwell industry, curbed influence of the American Booth Company monopoly, and remained the life force of the town until the late 1950's and the arrival of the sea lamprey and collapse of the fisheries.

All that remains of the village now are a few foundations, shipwrecks in the harbour and a cemetery. Within park boundaries is also the muse for Group of Seven member Lawren Harris, who in 1924 painted the now-famous image of Pic Island.

Flora and fauna in the park include many hardy species of subarctic plants and a rare herd of woodland caribou. The park is home to one of the most popular beaches on Lake Superior’s north shore and a model of a former German prisoner of war Camp at the Neys Visitor Centre.