to operate the Inn until the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929. After that, the Inn was leased to the Leavens Brothers who operated it as a summer hotel, and other portions of the property were rented out for use as a boys' camp and other recreational purposes. In 1936, the Inn and many outbuildings were destroyed in a fire started by lightning striking the bakehouse. The loss was not fully covered by insurance, and the Inn was never rebuilt.
Merrill Denison continued to spend summers at Bon Echo, using it as a quiet location to write. Some of the cottages, including Dollywood and Greystones, remained in use as summer getaways for years to come, but financially the property was often a burden on the Denisons. In 1955 the province of Ontario passed legislation allowing them to accept donations of land to form provincial parks. Although he could have made a substantial profit dividing and selling sections of the property as building lots, Denison's interests in conservation led him to donate the land to the province for the purpose of forming a park in 1959.
In 1965, Bon Echo Provincial Park officially opened. A plaque was placed at the Narrows dedicating the park to Flora MacDonald Denison and Muriel Denison, who was Merrill Denison's first wife and an author whose works include the 'Susannah' series (Susannah of the Mounties, et al.), made famous by the Shirley Temple film adaptions
