Northumberland County is an upper-tier level of municipal government situated on the north 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 ...

, east of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Central Ontario Central Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario that lies between Georgian Bay and the eastern end of Lake Ontario. The population of the region was 1,123,307 in 2016; however, this number does not in ...

. The Northumberland County headquarters are located in Cobourg.

Municipalities

Northumberland County consists of seven municipalities (in population order): *Town of Cobourg *Municipality of Port Hope - originally part of Durham County *Municipality (town) of

Trent Hills The Municipality of Trent Hills is a township municipality in Northumberland County in Central Ontario, Canada. It is on the Trent River and was created in 2001 through the amalgamation of the municipalities of Campbellford/Seymour, Percy Tow ...

*Municipality (town) of Brighton *Township of Hamilton *Township of

Alnwick/Haldimand The Township of Alnwick/Haldimand is a township in central Ontario, Canada, in Northumberland County, situated between Lake Ontario and Rice Lake. It was formed in 2001 by the merger of Alnwick Township in the north and Haldimand Township in th ...

*Township of

Cramahe Cramahe is a rural township located in Northumberland County in central Ontario, Canada. It is situated just off Ontario Highway 401 approximately 140 km East of Toronto. It was named for Hector Theophilus de Cramahé, who was Lieutenan ...

The Alderville First Nation is within the Northumberland census division but is independent of county administration.

Demographics

As a census division in the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Northumberland 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.

Towns/villages

*Town of Cobourg, Ontario *Municipality of

Port Hope, Ontario Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Toronto and about west of Kingston. It is located at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County. ...

*Municipality of

Brighton, Ontario Brighton is a town in Northumberland County, Ontario, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Toronto and west of Kingston, Ontario, Kingston. It is traversed by both Ontario Highway 401, Highway 401 and the former Ontar ...

*Municipality of

, Ontario *

Township, Ontario *

Hamilton Township, Ontario Hamilton Township is a rural township located in Northumberland County in central Ontario. It surrounds the Town of Cobourg. The township was named after Henry Hamilton, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec from 1782 to 1785. Communities *Baltimor ...

Township, Ontario

History

Together with Durham County, it formed the Newcastle District from 1802 to 1849 and the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham from 1850 to 1973. Effective January 1, 1974, part of Durham County was merged with Ontario County to create the Regional Municipality of Durham. At that time, Northumberland reverted to a standalone county. It was first aggressively settled by

United Empire Loyalists 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 dur ...

fleeing the former 13 British American Colonies in the late 18th century. The Crown provided plots to the settlers for nominal sums (with the stipulation of making the land productive in a set number of years) or free to those who had served against the American Colonial Army. Following the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, many port towns, Port Hope and Cobourg in particular, became important centres for commercial activity and a landing point for European immigrants arriving on steamers.

Recreation

There are two provincial parks in Northumberland County:

Presqu'ile Provincial Park Presqu'ile Provincial Park is a park in southeastern Northumberland County on the north shore of Lake Ontario near the town of Brighton in Ontario, Canada. The park occupies an area of . The name of the park is the French word for peninsula, or ...

in Brighton, and

Ferris Provincial Park Ferris Provincial Park is a provincial park in northeastern Northumberland County in Ontario, Canada. The park occupies an area of next to the Trent River in Campbellford Campbellford is an unincorporated place and former town in Northumbe ...

in Campbellford. There are also several other protected natural areas and forests, including Ganaraska Forest
Northumberland County Forest
Goodrich-Loomis Conservation Area, and Peter's Woods. Waterfront campsites and cottages are located along

and Rice Lake. Northumberland County has various cycling, hiking and other outdoor trails. The Waterfront Trail along Lake Ontario passes through Northumberland County, as does the

Trans-Canada Trail The Trans Canada Trail, officially named The Great Trail between September 2016 and June 2021, is a cross-Canada system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic oceans. The trail extend ...

. The Northumberland portion of the Trans-Canada Trail spans from

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

to Hoard's Station in Campbellford, following an abandoned rail line. Halfway through Campbellford, the trail joins the 6 km long Rotary Trail situated alongside the Trent River. There are five signed bike routes
Glorious GanaraskaRice Lake RambleShelter ValleyPresqu’ile Promise
an
Trent River Truckin'
The Northumberland County Forest offers various trails available for hiking, cycling, horseback riding, ATVing, off-road motorcycling, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing as well as a 3.2 km, accessible
Universal Trail
The Ganaraska Hiking Trail starts in Port Hope and goes north towards the

Bruce Trail The Bruce Trail is a hiking trail in southern Ontario, Canada, from the Niagara River to the tip of Tobermory, Ontario. The main trail is more than long and there are over of associated side trails. The trail mostly follows the edge of the Nia ...

. There are three theatres in Northumberland County: Westben in Campbellford, the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope, and the Park Theatre & Performing Arts Centre in Cobourg. Festivals in Northumberland include the Warkworth Maple Syrup and Float Your Fanny Down the Ganny festivals in early spring, the Cobourg Sandcastle Festival and Incredible Edibles Festival in the summer, and the Cultivate Food and Vintage Film Festivals in the fall.

References

External links

* {{Subdivisions of Ontario Counties in Ontario