Sheek Island is an island in the St. Lawrence River in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is considered to be one of Ontario's

Lost Villages The Lost Villages were ten communities (nine conventional villages and a populated island) in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the former townships of Cornwall and Osnabruck (now South Stormont) near Cornwall, which were permanently subme ...

, which were permanently flooded by the creation of the

St. Lawrence Seaway The St. Lawrence Seaway (french: la Voie Maritime du Saint-Laurent) is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North Americ ...

in 1958. While much of the island has been flooded, a portion of it remains above water, but is not populated. Sheek Island was occupied primarily by family farms and recreational properties. In 1914,

Levi Addison Ault Levi Addison Ault (November 1851 – February 1930) was a Canadian-born American businessman and bureaucrat whose career was closely associated with the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he earned the nickname "Father of Cincinnati's parks". Biogr ...

donated a family property on the island to the Township of Cornwall, which became

Ault Park Ault Park is the fourth-largest park in Cincinnati at 223.949 acres (0.9 km²), owned and operated by the Cincinnati Park Board. It lies in the Mount Lookout neighborhood on the city's east side. The hilltop park has an overlook which comm ...

. After the island was flooded by the Seaway project, Ault Park was rebuilt on the new shoreline near Long Sault. From 1956 to 1958,

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

conducted excavations in Ault Park, and believed that they may have found remnants of a 3500-year old

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

village. The University of Toronto petitioned for an injunction against the Seaway project so that the excavations could continue, but were not successful. A number of artifacts were taken from the site for further study.

External links

Ghosttownpix.com - Sheek Island
The Lost Villages 1958 disestablishments in Ontario Populated places disestablished in 1958 Lake islands of Ontario Islands of the Saint Lawrence River {{EasternOntario-geo-stub