The Algonquin people named the area Kuaenash Ne-ishing, meaning beautiful bay. They used it as a rendezvous area, often hosting pow wow gatherings. The first efforts by the authorities of the British colony of Upper Canada to survey the waterways of this area came in 1847, when mapmaker James Haslett visited the area. Haslett noted the presence of an Irish farmer named William Byers living in the area, which may have been transcribed as "Barry's", giving the name Barry's Bay on Haslett's maps. Later residents developed the more colloquial back story that the first permanent structure was built in the late 1850s by a James Barry, a foreman for a lumber company, which the lumberjacks working under Barry took to calling Barry's Camp on the Bay, shortened to Barry's Bay. Together, the details acknowledge that fact that the earliest settlers were loggers and farmers.
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