Penetanguishene, sometimes shortened to Penetang, is a town in Simcoe County. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay. Incorporated on February 22, 1882, it is a bilingual (French and English) community. The name Penetanguishene is believed to come from either the Wyando or Abenaki via Ojibwe, meaning "land of the white rolling sands". As early as AD 800, the Wyandot people settled in semi-permanent villages in the area. The young French translator, Étienne Brûlé, was the first European to set foot in the Penetanguishene area, some time between 1610 and 1614. In the 1840s, French-speaking families from Quebec (mainly from the area immediately east of Montreal), attracted by promises of cheap and fertile land, joined the French-speaking Drummond Island settlers already in the area. Later, as the logging industry began to develop, more English-speaking settlers arrived. Penetanguishene became the local market and meeting place for these individuals. Many of Penetanguishene's families today are descended from the Québécois settlers who arrived in the 1800s, giving the town a marked bilingual nature.