Sheek Island is an island in 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 ...

in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

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 ...

. 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 A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, 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 Long Sault was a rapid in the St. Lawrence River upstream and west of Cornwall, Ontario. ''Sault'' is the archaic spelling of the French word ''saut'', meaning rapids. The Long Sault created a navigation barrier along the river for much of its ...

. 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 The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

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