Howe Island is an island located in Lake Ontario east of Kingston in

Frontenac County Frontenac County is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. The city of Kingston is in the Frontenac census division, but is separated from the County of Front ...

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 C ...

, Canada. It is part of the

Thousand Islands The Thousand Islands (french: Mille-Îles) constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for abo ...

chain. Together with Wolfe Island and

Simcoe Island Simcoe Island is a small island approximately long, and across at its widest point, in Lake Ontario, just off Wolfe Island, close to Kingston, Ontario, and Amherst Island. The island is almost completely farmland and can be reached by ferry ...

, Howe Island is part of the township of

Frontenac Islands Frontenac Islands is a township located in Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada, that encompasses a number of islands at the beginning of the Saint Lawrence River near the outlet of Lake Ontario, including: Arabella, Bayfield, Black Ant, Garden, G ...

, created through municipal amalgamation in 1998. Howe Island measures 13 km (8 mi) long and 5 km (3 mi) wide and has an area of 31 km² (12 mi²). It is the 2nd largest of the “Thousand Islands”. The main channel of the St. Lawrence River passes to the south of the island and merges with Lake Ontario, while the Bateau Channel passes on the north between the Canadian mainland and the island.

History

Howe Island was originally named ''Ka-ou-enesegoan'' by local

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

and later ''Isle Cauchois'' after its first French owner Jacques Cauchois who took possession in 1685. In a proclamation by the

Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada The following is a list of lieutenant governors of Ontario and the lieutenant governors of the former colony of Upper Canada. The office of Lieutenant Governor of Ontario was created in 1867, when the Province of Ontario was created upon Confed ...

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 watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. He founded Yor ...

on 16 July 1792, the island was renamed from Isle Cauchois to Howe island; it was named for

William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB PC (10 August 172912 July 1814) was a British Army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British land forces in the Colonies during the American War of Independence. Howe was one of three brot ...

, a British officer who served under General

James Wolfe James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec. ...

at the

Battle of the Plains of Abraham The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec (french: Bataille des Plaines d'Abraham, Première bataille de Québec), was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War (referred to as the French and Indian War to describe ...

during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

, and first appeared on a map in 1818 following a survey by Captain (later Vice Admiral)

William Fitzwilliam Owen Vice Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen (17 September 1774 – 3 November 1857), was a British naval officer and explorer. He is best known for his exploration of the west and east African coasts, discovery of the Seaflower Channel off the co ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

. There is some evidence (received by oral tradition) that it was at one time also called St. John's. There is no evidence of any permanent habitation until 1810 by a man named William Casey. In the following four decades successive waves of settlers brought many of the island's long standing families who still live or own land there. Howe Island has a shared community of farming, as well as "cottagers". The Island also has a small Roman Catholic Church: St. Philomena's.

Demographics

The population of Howe Island in 2011 was 602, although this figure expands in the summer months when recreational properties are occupied.

Transportation

Two ferry services connect the island to the mainland:
County-operated ferry
on the west from the community of Pitts Ferry, part of Kingston; and th
Township-operated "Foot Ferry"
on the east from

Gananoque Gananoque ( ) is a town in the Leeds and Grenville area of Ontario, Canada. The town had a population of 5,383 year-round residents in the 2021 Canadian Census, as well as summer residents sometimes referred to as "Islanders" because of the Tho ...

References

* {{refend Former township municipalities in Ontario Landforms of Frontenac County Islands of the Thousand Islands in Ontario

History

Demographics

Transportation

See also

References