Back in the 1800s if you were not lucky enough to have a train station in your village you would have to travel by stagecoach. Many small villages had hotels to accommodate the weary travellers along their journey. Lake Simcoe and by extension Belhaven was a popular stopover for both merchants and holiday seekers alike. The Belhaven hotel and tavern was a popular stagecoach stop back in the day. Visitors would routinely be greeted by a dapper individual wearing a Plug hat (a hard black hat with a wide brim otherwise known as a top hat); hence earning the village the name Plug Mount. This community adopted the more formal Belhaven name in the 1860s. Belhaven rose to prominence locally as the site of the annual town hall meetings for what was then North Gwillimbury Township. When the Regional municipality of York was formed in 1971 Belhaven became part of the Town of Georgina.