Prince Edward County (PEC) is a municipality in southern

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 ...

. Its coastline on Lake Ontario’s northeastern shore is known for

Sandbanks Provincial Park Sandbanks Provincial Park is a provincial park located on Lake Ontario in Prince Edward County near Picton, Ontario, Canada. The park is considered one of the best sandy beaches in Ontario and contains the largest bay-mouth barrier dune f ...

, sand beaches, and limestone cliffs. The Regent Theatre, a restored Edwardian opera house, sits at the heart of the town of Picton on the

Bay of Quinte The Bay of Quinte () is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of ...

. Nearby Macaulay Heritage Park highlights local history through its 19th-century buildings. In 2016, Prince Edward County had a census population of 24,735. Prince Edward County is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

single-tier municipality A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

and a

census division Census divisions, in Canada and the United States of America, United States, are areas delineated for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government in and of themselves. The census divisions of Canada are second-lev ...

of the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

History

Long settled by

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, the county has significant archeological sites. These include the LeVescounte Mounds of the Point Peninsula complex people, built about 2000 years ago. The county was created by

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

's founding lieutenant-governor

John Graves Simcoe John Graves Simcoe (25 February 1752 – 26 October 1806) was a British Army general and the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 until 1796 in southern Ontario and the Drainage basin, watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. ...

on July 16, 1792. It was named after

Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, (Edward Augustus; 2 November 1767 – 23 January 1820) was the fourth son and fifth child of King George III. His only legitimate child became Queen Victoria. Prince Edward was created Duke of Kent an ...

(the fourth son of King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

and father of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

) who was commander-in-chief of

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...

. Shortly after the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, the Crown made land grants to some of the earliest

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America duri ...

s to encourage their settlements in Ontario and provide compensation for property lost in the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...

. The county was originally composed of three townships named in honour of three of George III's daughters. For many years Prince Edward County has been closely associated with the wholly mainland

Hastings County Hastings County is located in the province of Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it is located on the border of Eastern Ontario and Central Ontario. Hastings County is the second-largest county in Ontario, after Renfrew County, and its county ...

. Its longtime

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

unit has been

The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. The regiment is part of 33 Canadian Brigade Group, one of four brigade groups of 4th Canadian Division. The regimental headquarters and one co ...

(locally known as the Hasty Ps), whose most famous member was

Farley Mowat Farley McGill Mowat, (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Can ...

. This noted author wrote two books about his experiences with the Hasty Ps during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

's Italian Campaign: ''The Regiment'' and a subsequent account, ''And No Birds Sang''. On January 1, 1998, the Town of Picton, the villages of Bloomfield and Wellington, and the townships of Ameliasburgh, Athol, Hallowell, Hillier, North Marysburgh, Sophiasburgh, and South Marysburgh amalgamated to form a new city with the official legal name of Prince Edward County. Each of the former municipalities is now a ward.

Former municipalities

The following are former municipalities: * Ameliasburgh, named after Princess Amelia, youngest daughter of George III *Athol *Bloomfield *Hallowell, named after Captain Benjamin Hallowell (1723–1799)), eminent Loyalist, formerly of Boston. He was the father-in-law of Chief Justice

John Elmsley John Elmsley (1762 – April 29, 1805) was Chief Justice of Upper Canada and afterwards Lower Canada. In both of the Canadas he served as President of the Executive Council and Speaker of the Legislative Council. During the Hunter administra ...

. * Hillier, organized in 1823, and named after Major George Hillier, military secretary to Sir

Peregrine Maitland General Sir Peregrine Maitland, GCB (6 July 1777 – 30 May 1854) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. He also was a first-class cricketer from 1798 to 1808 and an early advocate for the establishment of what would become the Canadi ...

. *

North Marysburgh North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, surveyed in 1785 and settled by Loyalist veterans, some of Hessian birth. Named for

Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (25 April 1776 – 30 April 1857) was the eleventh child and fourth daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She married her first cous ...

, one of George III's daughters. * Sophiasburgh, named for Princess Sophia, one of George III's daughters. Surveyed in 1785 and 1787, settled by Loyalists from Nova Scotia and the Mainland. *

South Marysburgh South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

, also named for

, one of George III's daughters. * Picton, named for Sir

Thomas Picton Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton (24 August 175818 June 1815) was a British Army officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respected for his courage and feared for his irascible t ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, named after

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister o ...

Geography

Prince Edward County is located in

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...

on a large irregular headland or

littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

at the eastern end 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 ...

, just west of the head of the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

. This headland (officially named Prince Edward County in 1792) is surrounded on the north and east by the

. As the

Murray Canal The Murray Canal is a canal in the municipalities of Quinte West and Brighton, Ontario, Canada, and runs from the western end of the Bay of Quinte to Presqu'ile Bay on Lake Ontario. It is approximately in length and has maximum depth of . The ...

now connects the bay to Lake Ontario across the only land connection, the county is technically an island. Murray Canal is crossed by 2 swing bridges, the single lane county road 64 bridge and the two lane country road 33 bridge. Bay of Quinte is crossed by two, 2-lane bridges of about 850m length – one carrying Provincial Highway 62 near Belleville and the other about 24 km east carrying Provincial Highway 49 near

Deseronto Deseronto is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, in Hastings County, located at the mouth of the Napanee River on the shore of the Bay of Quinte, on the northern side of Lake Ontario. The town was named for Captain John Deseronto, a n ...

Climate

The county's relatively mild

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Dfb DFB may refer to: * Deerfield Beach, Florida, a city * Decafluorobutane, a fluorocarbon gas * Dem Franchize Boyz, former hip hop group, Atlanta, Georgia * Dfb, Köppen climate classification for Humid continental climate * Distributed-feedback ...

) due to the influence of

has led to the establishment of about 50

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s and close to 30

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, b ...

; as a result, Prince Edward County is one of Ontario's designated viticultural areas. The lake effect from Lake Ontario results in heavier

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

fall than in neighbouring counties. July is the hottest month and January is the coldest month.

Landscape

Prince Edward County is a community encompassing approximately , with over of shoreline (including inland lakes and bordered by Lake Ontario) with beaches and limestone rich soil.

Communities

Prince Edward County includes the population centres of Picton and

and the communities of Albury, Ameliasburg, Bloomfield, Carrying Place, Cherry Valley, Consecon, Cressy, Demorestville, Fawcettville, Glenora, Hillier, Lake on the Mountain,

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

, Mountain View, Northport, Rednersville, Rosehall, Rossmore, Salmon Point, Sophiasburgh, Waupoos, Waupoos Island, West Lake, Woodrous, and Yerexville.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Prince Edward County had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Attractions

Music festivals

Prince Edward County is home to the Prince Edward County Chamber Music Festival, Music at Port Milford Chamber Music Academy & Festival, Classical Unbound Festival, the PEC Jazz Festival, and other musical events. Prince Edward County Chamber Music Festival in its 15th season, runs two weekends in the early fall with performances by renowned Canadian musicians. Music at Port Milford, established in 1987, brings together promising young musicians with internationally renowned faculty to create an inspiring chamber music summer camp and festival on the shores of South Bay. In the summer, PEC also hosts the Classical Unbound Festival, with performances of classical music in unconventional venues and contexts by foremost Canadian musicians, and the renowned Jazz Festival in the month of August. Some of Canada's most prolific jazz musicians gather in the county for this festival. The Prince Edward County Country Jamboree happens in August in Cherry Valley. With over 40 Top Notch Canadian Country Music Entertainers over four days. The 50s & 60s Rock N Roll Music Festival is held in Cherry Valley.

Vacationing

Prince Edward County has become a vacation destination with

, and Ontario's newest VQA wine Appellation as the twin centrepieces of the tourism industry. Hotels, motels and bed & breakfast accommodations are abundant and mostly occupied during the summer months. In addition, many cottages are available such as those offered at Sandbanks Beach Resort.

Water activities

Prince Edward County's main water attractions are its white sand beaches. Together,

, North Beach Provincial Park attract over 600,000 visitors yearly. The numerous campgrounds throughout the County also allow many tourists to enjoy water-sports such as those offered through Westlake Wakeboarding School, kayaking, canoeing, tubing, and more.

Skateboarding and BMXing

Beside the historic Crystal Palace is the County Youth Park. While the region is known for a large retirement community, young people now flock to the County to visit the skatepark and playground located in the corner of the Picton Fairgrounds property (which also holds the Picton Arena, the Prince Edward Curling Club & Crystal Palace). For example, the YoungLife youth event "Road Rage" had teens of all ages visiting skateboard parks across Ontario and then entering their homemade skateboarding video into a contest; Picton was one of their stops.

Dining

Prince Edward County in recent years has become a top culinary destination, from the historic Black River Cheese Company which started operations in 1901 to the new

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

-certified, award-winning Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Factory. The county held the annual Great Canadian Cheese Festival from 2010 through 2017. This festival, held at the Picton Fairgrounds in June, boasted cheese-makers from all across Canada offering more than 125 artisan cheeses for tasting and purchase. The festival also included non-cheese related artisan foods such as, various breads and condiments, wine, cider and craft beer as well as many other offerings. It has been on hiatus since 2018. With an increasing number of cultural activities — in part due to the emigration of top artists and chefs to the area – like the "Taste" celebration or "Six Barrels for Six Chefs", the County has created a niche in the new Creative Economy. “It's yet another point of pride for Prince Edward County, which has become the gastronomic capital of Ontario — a fertile island bursting with vineyards, organic farms and a community of artists and chefs. Tucked into the "golden triangle" between Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, it is the province's newest Designated Viticultural Area, which helps identify the origin of a wine and its grapes.” (''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'')

Birding

Events also include the Spring Birding Festival; Prince Edward County Authors' Festival; the County Jazz Festival, a summer event; the Prince Edward County Music Festival (a chamber music series) held on the same fall weekend as the Prince Edward County Studio and Gallery Tour; "Music at Port Milford," a summer music festival and school for string students from 12–18 years old, and an annual season of professional theatre produced by Festival Players of Prince Edward County.

Theatre

One of the few surviving

art-deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United ...

movie houses in Ontario, Picton's downtown Regent Theatre, is host to a variety of plays, musicals and art movie screenings throughout the year. Prince Edward County has a live comedy scene with Taste That! producing regular improv and sketch comedy shows throughout the County since 2015, and the annual Comedy Country festival that pairs local acts with professional comedians from across Canada. The professional summer theatre company, Festival Players of Prince Edward County, provide a season of theatre for adults in July and August. Festival Players performs in their small 50-seat venue (The Studio Theatre) in the village of Wellington. There is a number of thriving community theatre groups in Prince Edward County. Prince Edward Community Theatre is a group specializing in plays ranging from the comedic to the deeply emotional, based mainly at Mount Tabor Playhouse in Milford. The Marysburgh Mummers is another group specializing more in children's shows and lighter materials for adults, prioritizing actors who have not yet had a chance to "tread the boards". Shatterbox Theatre is a volunteer-run theatre group that produces contemporary plays, primarily at The Regent Theatre. A drive-in movie theatre, The Mustang, is located north-west of Picton on Route 1.

Wineries, distilleries, and cider

Prince Edward County is home to many wineries, distilleries, and hard-cider companies. These include; Amanda's Vineyards, Black Prince Winery, Broken Stone Winery, Chadsey's Cairns Winery, Cape Winyard, Casa-Dea Estates Winery, Closson Chase Winery, County Cider Company, Del-Gatto Estates Ltd. Devils Wishbone Winery, Domaine Darius, Exultet Estates, Grange of Prince Edward Estate Winery, Gravel Hill Vineyards, Half Moon Bay Winery, Harwood Estate Wineyard, Hillier Creek Estates, Hinterland Wine Company, Hubbs Creek Vineyard, Huff Estates Winery, Karlo Estates, Keint-he Winery & Vineyard, Lacey Estates Winery, Lighthall Vineyards, Norman Hardie Winery, Rosehall Run, Sandbanks Winery, Stanners Vineyard, Sugarbush Vineyard, Thirty Three Vines Winery, Three Dog Winery, Trail Estate Winery, Traynor Family Vineyard, and Waupoos Estates Winery and Vineyard.

Sports

Hockey

Driving south on Loyalist Highway 33 to the village of Wellington. Proudly displayed on billboards as you arrive in the small town of 1,700 — located 15 kilometers west of Picton in Prince Edward County — is ‘Home of the Dukes.’ Every season for the past dozen years the

Wellington Dukes The Wellington Dukes are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Wellington, Ontario, Canada. They are in the Eastern Division of the Ontario Junior Hockey League and used to be a part of the Metro Junior A Hockey League. Originally a Junior C team in ...

have finished at, or near the top of the II-tier league. Prince Edward Community Centre located at 375 Main Street is where the

Picton Pirates The Picton Pirates are a junior hockey, Junior ice hockey team based in Picton, Ontario, Picton, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Tod Division of the Provincial Junior Hockey League. League history Nicknamed the "Patcheyes", the Picton Pirates ...

Junior C Hockey Team play their home games, Nicknamed the "Patcheyes", the Picton Pirates were founded in 1989 as members of the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League. Picton recently won the 2011 Empire "B" Junior C Championship after beating 2nd place Amherstview Jets 4–3 in the best of 7 and 1st place and defending champions Napanee Raiders in their best of seven series 4–2. In the spring of 2013, The Pirates became the seventh team from Eastern Ontario since the 1930s to win the Ontario Hockey Association's Schmalz Cup, emblematic of Junior C supremacy in the province. The Pirates defeated the Essex 73's five games to one to capture the OHA title.

Sailing

Prince Edward County is surrounded by just over 500 km of shoreline offering a dozen or more sheltered harbors and many facilities that cater to boating are located throughout, including full-service marinas. The County has a rich sailing history which can be discovered at Mariners Park Museum in South Marysburgh. For those interested in a broader collection of maritime material, Picton is also home to The

Archives and Collections Society The Archives and Collections Society is a non-profit foundation, incorporated in 1999, dedicated to maritime history and conservation, marine research and nautical education, based on the shores of the Great Lakes, in Picton, Ontario. In December 20 ...

which offers more than fifty thousand documents on the Great Lakes and the sea, maritime history and navigation. The Prince Edward County Yacht Club located in Picton Harbour offers a junior sailing program for children aged 10–18 using monohull dinghies sailing in the pristine water out of Waupoos Marina. PECYC uses CYA certified instructors and successful students are granted CYA certificates. County Sailing Adventures offer daily sailing cruises out of Waupoos Marina in some of the best fresh water sailing grounds in the world. You can sail the edge of the infamous Marysburgh Vortex or anchor off Little Bluff for lunch and a swim.

Government

Despite the official name, Prince Edward is not a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

by the standard Ontario definition. It is a single-tier municipal government with city status and handles all municipal services. The former

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

and current council hall is located at the Shire Hall, in Picton. Officially, the area is the smallest single-tier municipality in Ontario and consists of the merged governments of the original county and the 10 former towns, villages and townships, that governed the area until 1997.

Education

Post-secondary

Prince Edward County is in close proximity to top educational institutions in Kingston and Belleville including Queen’s University, the

Royal Military College of Canada '') , established = 1876 , type = Military academy , chancellor = Anita Anand ('' la, ex officio, label=none'' as Defence Minister) , principal = Harry Kowal , head_label ...

, St. Lawrence College and

Loyalist College Loyalist College (formally Loyalist College of Applied Arts and Technology) is an English-language college in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. History Prior to the 1960s, only trade schools co-existed with universities in the province of Ontario ...

Primary and secondary

The

Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board The Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board (known as English-language Public District School Board No. 29 prior to 1999) has 39 elementary and eight secondary schools, serving over 18,400 students, and employing more than 1,070 teachers ...

serves close to 17,000 students each day at 46 elementary and eight secondary schools. The district covers a wide geographical area of 7,221 square kilometers bordered by Maynooth to the north, Deseronto to the east, Prince Edward County to the south and Quinte West to the west. The

Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board (ALCDSB) is a separate school board in Ontario, Canada. The school board is the school district administrator for Roman Catholic schools in the western portions of Eastern Ontario, includin ...

serve students of the Roman Catholic faith. Approximately 15,000 students attend 36 elementary schools and 5 secondary schools in this school district Sonrise Christian Academy is located at 58 Johnson St. in Picton and offers K–8 education from a Biblical worldview to families in Prince Edward County. Previously the

Prince Edward County Board of Education Prince Edward County Board of Education (PECBE) was a school district in Ontario, Canada, serving Prince Edward County. Its headquarters were in Bloomfield. The school district, as of 1997, operated eight elementary schools and one secondary scho ...

served the county.

Media

Print

* ''Wellington Times'' (Every Wednesday) * ''The Picton Gazette'' (Every Thursday) * ''The County Weekly News'' (Every Thursday) * ''County Live''

Radio

Emergency services

The county is served by 1 EMS station of Hastings-Quinte EMS. Policing is provided from the

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorpo ...

detachment located in Picton. The mainly-volunteer Prince Edward County Fire Department operates from ten fire stations located throughout the municipality.

Notable residents

Guido Basso Guido Basso, (born 27 September 1937) is a Canadian jazz musician who was a member of Rob McConnell's Boss Brass big band. He is a trumpeter, flugelhornist, arranger, composer and conductor. Life and career Basso was born in Montreal, Quebec, ...

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

ist * J. D. Carpenter, author *

Gord Downie Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its forma ...

, lead singer

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...

is noted as saying during a concert in

Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its population ...

that he has taken up occasional residence in the County. * Raymond Myers Gorssline, 12th Surgeon General of Canada *

Jamie Kennedy James Harvey Kennedy (born May 25, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He has played Randy Meeks in the ''Scream'' franchise (1996–2000) and a multitude of characters in ''The Jamie Kennedy Experiment'' (2002–2004) on The WB. His othe ...

, chef and owner-operator of Jamie Kennedy Kitchens *

Janet Lunn Janet Louise Lunn, ('' née'' Swoboda; December 28, 1928 – June 26, 2017) was a Canadian children's writer. Early life and education Lunn was born in Dallas, Texas; she moved with her family to Vermont when she was an infant. In 1938, she ...

, author *

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

, first Canadian Prime Minister, lived for three years at Glenora, where his father operated a grist mill. In 1833, Macdonald returned to the Picton area to take over a law practice from his ailing cousin, Lowther P. Macpherson, who was in ill-health. During his stay here, Macdonald became the first secretary of the Prince Edward Young Men’s Society in 1834 and served as secretary of the Prince Edward District School Board. The latter position constituted his earliest experience in the field of public administration. *

Kent Monkman Kent Monkman (born 13 November 1965) is a Canadian First Nations artist of Cree ancestry. He is a member of the Fisher River band situated in Manitoba's Interlake Region. He is both a visual as well as performance artist, working in a variety ...

, painter and visual artist *

Shani Mootoo Shani Mootoo, writer, visual artist and video maker, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1957 to Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidadian parents. She grew up in Trinidad and relocated at the age of 19 to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She currently l ...

, artist and author *

Al Purdy Alfred Wellington Purdy (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four b ...

, poet who moved to Ameliasburgh in the 1950s. * Bill Reddick, potter *

Justin Rutledge Justin Rutledge (born January 3, 1979) is a Toronto-based Canadian alternative country singer-songwriter signed to Outside Music. Rutledge's musical style is often compared to that of American alt-country singer Ryan Adams. His influences, both ...

, singer-songwriter *

Vincent de Tourdonnet Vincent de Tourdonnet is a Canadian musical theatre writer. He is known for writing large-scale historical musicals, as well as intimate, cabaret-style musicals. He also serves as stage director. Biography De Tourdonnet’s epic musical ''Pél ...

, musical theatre writer and director * Astrid Young, singer-songwriter

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in Ontario Former counties in Ontario Single-tier municipalities in Ontario Wine regions of Ontario Islands of Ontario