Goat Island, well-known stopoff for Grand Lake boaters, hits the auction block [Video]

An island that serves as an unofficial gathering place for Grand Lake boaters is being auctioned by the province. 

Goat Island is a 1.5-hectare (3.7 acre) island tucked between Cox Point and Wuhrs Beach in the northern part of the lake. 

Its arrival at a tax sale is somewhat of a surprise to those who have frequented the island for decades. 

“I really never knew who owned it and never really bothered to try and find out. I always assumed the government owned it,” Brian Watson said. 

Watson said many of his family members lived in the Grand Lake area when he was growing up and he later owned a camp on the lake for 40 years. 

When he got his first boat in the 1960s, he began visiting the island. Years later, he took his son there and eventually his grandchildren.

“The island was directly straight across the lake …