Ste. Anne’s Spa: A Legacy of Healing & Hospitality

The sprawling countryside acreage and historic structures of Ste. Anne’s Spa speak of a long, storied past. Indigenous land, farmland-homestead, bed and breakfast – and now a worldclass health and wellness destination.

You can learn a lot about others by the company they keep and the music they listen to. Ste. Anne’s owner Jim Corcoran grooves on trendsetting artists like Bowie, Prince and Pink Floyd and goes to work with his two dogs in tow – Roxy the Lab/Shepherd prefers to be with the gardeners while Cosmos the Westie oversees the offices. His mother Nan, Ste. Anne’s matriarch and one of the first to realize its restorative powers and envision it as a place of healing for all, also comes to work with him. Nowadays, Nan sits and knits and chats with guests in the lobby of the main inn and serves up some of Ste. Anne’s signature hospitality and familial warmth. The resort is nestled on five hundred acres of what was traditionally Anishinaabeg land and believed to be flowing with rejuvenating waters.

THE PAST

The original homesteaders of Ste. Anne’s were the Massey family, who emigrated from the United States in search of affordable land. Daniel Massey and his kin were among the earliest settlers to the property near Grafton, then known as Grover’s Tavern. In 1858, the family built a home of rose quartz and pink limestone with two-foot-thick walls, a square transom over the door, capped off with a gabled roof. The Massey legacy is woven into Canadian lore with names like Governor General Vincent Massey, actor Raymond Massey and Hart Massey, who with his father founded the Massey Manufacturing Company.

Simon Jayne purchased the property from the Masseys in 1901 and added another farmhouse, expanding the homestead. In 1919, Elizabeth and William Keeler took over the farm with their Baptist minister son; but they were forced to sell in 1939, victims of the Great Depression.

Houston oil mogul Robert Lee Blaffer and his wife Sarah were smitten with the property while vacationing in Canada and purchased it in 1939, developing it into a summer retreat by adding Cotswold cottages from locally sourced limestone.

Mrs. Blaffer was a renowned patron of the arts and known for hosting flamboyant summer luncheons for the local farm children. She’d send a chauffeur to pick up the kids and then drop them off with full tummies and heads abuzz with wonder. It was like a fairytale, complete with white linen tablecloths, settings of polished silverware, and lunch served by liveried staff in white gloves. The Blaffers named their retreat Ste. Anne’s, as a nod to one of Canada’s patron saints. Today, the breathtaking original structure contains four suites in what was the Blaffers’ kitchen/dining area, living room and two bedrooms.

THE EARLY CORCORAN YEARS

After Mrs. Blaffer died in 1975, the property was rarely visited. The land and homestead stood vacant from 1975 to 1981 and deteriorated into disorder and disarray until Carl Corcoran, a Toronto businessman, spied an ad for “a castle” in Northumberland. His wife Nan was reluctant to take on the dilapidated property. They returned for several visits before purchasing Ste. Anne’s in 1981; somehow the buildings and grounds had charmed the couple. For Nan, there was something mystical drawing her to the property. She saw the healing herbs among the weeds of the neglected gardens, sensed the regenerative powers associated with the quartz building and soothing waters and felt the essence of a benevolent, nurturing spirit.

Nan planned to open a bed and breakfast at Ste. Anne’s and hold yoga retreats, but there was a long road of renovations and restorations to navigate. Yet in inherent insight, she adopted a prophecy uttered by family friend and visionary Jay Rawlings after he visited the property: “I have chosen this beautiful garden where I will send many people to be healed.”

Visitors now wander through newly inspired annual gardens, fountains and winding dry stack stone walls. In the morning, honey from Ste. Anne’s beehives is set on the table for toast.

Following two years of extensive construction and upgrades, Ste. Anne’s opened in 1983. Nan and Carl soon realized that with Carl’s extensive travelling, running a B&B in a remote rural setting wasn’t easy. By 1991, they were ready to sell.

That’s when Carl’s son Jim stepped in.

Jim reflects on the day he decided to take over Ste. Anne’s. “I remember looking up through the beautiful canopy of maple trees hanging over the road, and for an instant I felt a very subtle nudge that I should quit my job in Toronto and move back to the country to see if I could turn Ste. Anne’s around.”

Jim moved into Ste. Anne’s with a business plan: building an addition, adding dining arrangements, breathing new life into the business. In 1992, spa treatments were introduced and he never looked back.

The Ste. Anne’s we know today is a full-service resort dedicated to physical and mental health. In terms of economic impact, Ste. Anne’s is Alnwick/Haldimand township’s largest employer and a key economic driver in Northumberland County, catering to 30,000 guests per year and employing 330 people at peak times while injecting $500,000 in wages into the community every two weeks.

THE VISION

On one hand, Jim is a traditionalist who humbly understands Ste. Anne’s has been a family affair. Jim’s siblings – Nan and Carl Corcoran had seven children – all contributed to the success of Ste. Anne’s along the way. He is deeply respectful of family and the history he holds in his hands.

On the other hand, he is a trailblazer like the rockers of his youth, perpetually looking for new and innovative industry trends. His eye is always on the master plan for the long term growth of the property.

Ste. Anne’s has evolved into an industry innovator with its own bakery, an organic beef farm and holistic skin care products. Jim proudly acknowledges many of these ideas were spawned by past and present employees who have always worked as a collaborative team.

“The staff that have come through these doors … are the people who have created this place. I see myself more as a guide or an enabler who has been incredibly lucky to work with this amazing, ever evolving team.”

The entire Ste. Anne’s staff understand the crucial role they play in ensuring each person walks away healthy, happy and refreshed. At the same time, they acknowledge it’s a holistic journey of mind, body and soul, allowing the body to access its own remarkable recuperative powers. Ultimately, folks choose Ste. Anne’s for the spirit of community and total mind and body experience of therapeutic indulgence and healing.

Jim explains, “I have come to believe that spa treatments themselves are not what heals us. It’s the power of human touch allowing our bodies to go into a regenerative mode of self-healing. Once we get our minds and bodies into that ‘Zen’ state, the body takes it from there.”

Jim and his staff regularly attend conferences and travel to other inns and spas to collaborate with peers and colleagues. He even took the gardeners to England and Ireland for a garden tour. Visitors now wander through newly inspired annual gardens, fountains and winding dry stack stone walls. In the morning, honey from Ste. Anne’s beehives is set on the table for toast.

THE REALITY

Today, Ste. Anne’s is a year-round destination, particularly inviting in the winter months – a time when busy people need to recharge their batteries most. Winter at Ste. Anne’s is a time of captivating beauty, where the grounds are often draped in a fresh blanket of snow and surrounded by ice-covered trees, sparkling like Sarah Blaffer’s linen-covered tables and polished cutlery, with crisp clear azure skies and the stunning dark blue of Lake Ontario on the horizon.

The rustic charm and profound history of the older structures are undeniable and compel many to touch the old stone just to feel it and be connected to the earth. Walking from room to room, one can’t help but be captivated by the romance of both the setting and the sense of being carried away in time.

The architecture of the resort is a collective of different styles, but that’s to be expected considering how many were involved with construction, additions and renovations. Jim describes it as such: “Fieldstone mixed with cut granite, an English Manor house crossed with elements of a French château.

“Ste. Anne’s should never feel like a mega resort or depart from the sense that you’re with friends in the country – a place where you can put your feet up, breathe fresh clean air, enjoy a healthy meal, go for a hike in the woods and indulge your senses in the therapeutic benefits of nature, human touch and these amazing waters.”

Photo: The Ste. Anne’s estate, circa 1940. This rose quartz and pink limestone castle was the dream of many; from the Masseys to the Jayne and Keeler families, to the Blaffer family, and then the Corcorans, Ste. Anne’s offers the allure of a storied and historically significant property. Today, Ste. Anne’s is best known as an all-natural wellness retreat. The expansive gardens are harvested to create a line of skin and bath care blended onsite in the Apothecary. All photographs courtesy Ste. Anne’s Spa.

Opposite page: The original Massey living room decorated as it was over a century ago; the spa’s own Apothecary creates naturally blended soaps, salt scrubs, essential oils and balms and salves – all sourced onsite from the gardens; a guest indulges in one of the many hydrotherapy pools; Jim Corcoran surveys the property with Roxy and Cosmos.

Nan and the late Carl Corcoran; Jane Blaffer wed Kenneth Owen in the newly built Wedding Room featuring a fieldstone floor to accommodate the after-ceremony dancing; an image showing the original rose quartz and pink limestone façade.