Southampton Ontario is the subject of Book 33 in the Cruising Ontario series of books of photographs of towns and cities in Ontario. Southampton, on Lake Huron at the mouth of the Saugeen River, is located south of Sauble Beach and north of Port Elgin. It is quiet and peaceful on Southampton's beach, a four-kilometre-long stretch of shore. The wooden Long Dock extends towards Chantry Island with its lighthouse in view offshore. Captain John Spence built a cabin near the mouth of the river in 1849, becoming Southampton's first permanent settler. His wife and family joined him the following year. He bought the fishing schooner "Sea Gull" for coastal trade along the shores of Lake Huron. Architectural styles and terms are described in the appendix.