Darlington Provincial Park is a

provincial park Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to the ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is located just south of

Highway 401 King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...

near the town of

Courtice Courtice () is a community in Ontario, Canada, about east of Toronto, within the Clarington, Ontario, Municipality of Clarington. Adjacent to Oshawa, Ontario, Oshawa, it is west of Bowmanville, Ontario, Bowmanville, which is also part of Clari ...

, between the cities of

Bowmanville Bowmanville is a town of approximately 40,000 people located in the Municipality of Clarington, Ontario, Clarington, Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately east of Toronto, and east of Oshawa along ...

and

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...

. A small park, the topography is dominated by gentle hills formed by a terminal

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

deposited by glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age. The park borders on the northern shore of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

and also encloses McLaughlin Bay. The bay is shallow and at some point in the 1990s was completely closed off from the lake by the action of the waves. The property bordering the park to the west is the home of

General Motors Corporation The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

's Canadian headquarters. Kintigh Generating Station can be seen from this provincial park even though it is on the other side of the lake in

Somerset, New York Somerset is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 2,662 at the 2010 census. The town is believed to be named after Somerset, New Jersey, the source of some early settlers. The Town of Somerset is in the northea ...

Park wildlife

Darlington Provincial Park is home to several varieties of plants and animals. The

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

of the park consists mostly of second-generation regrowth, as the park was reforested in the 1960s after being cleared for farmland. Invasive plant species are a serious problem in the park, especially the aggressive

purple loosestrife ''Lythrum salicaria'' or purple loosestrifeFlora of NW Europe''Lythrum salicaria'' is a flowering plant belonging to the family Lythraceae. It should not be confused with other plants sharing the name loosestrife that are members of the family P ...

growing in the marshy areas bordering McLaughlin Bay. Animal species present in the park range from the

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

squirrels Squirrels are members of the family (biology), family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flyi ...

and other small animals. Other animals such as

coyotes The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

and

grey wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

have been rumored to be wandering around the park. Fish and amphibian life are also present in the park, especially in and around McLaughlin Bay. The park is known for migrating

monarch butterflies The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It ...

. It offers an annual monarch tagging and educational program.

Monarch butterfly migration

Near summer's end, monarch butterflies begin to migrate south to Mexico. The park is part of a greater monarch conservation program. It tags monarch butterflies at its annual migration festival, the Monarchs and Raptors Weekend, held in early September. This event attracts young families who are given an opportunity to help with the tagging.

Loyalist heritage

This part of Canada was settled by three loyalist families in 1794; Roger Conant, John Burk and John Trull. They moved onto British soil in response to Lord Simcoe's offer of free land to the loyalists. Samuel Burk, a descendant of John Burk, purchased the land which is now the park in 1818 and resided there until his death in 1833. Located on the park property is a cemetery used by this Burk family.

In film

In 1971, a notable biker movie called ''The Proud Rider'', featuring

Art Hindle Arthur Hindle is a Canadian actor and director. Early life and education Hindle was born in Halifax. For 12 years, he alternated living with his divorced parents in addition to living in foster homes. He grew up in Bowmanville, and later at T ...

, was filmed in the area. Many of the biker scenes in the film were shot inside the park, and the Darlington pioneer home can often be seen.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Provincial parks of Ontario Clarington Tourist attractions in the Regional Municipality of Durham Protected areas of the Regional Municipality of Durham Year of establishment missing Campsites in Canada