Caledonia Springs is now an unincorporated community in the northwest of the
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
of
The Nation
''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
,
Prescott and Russell United Counties
The United Counties of Prescott and Russell () is a county located in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is L'Orignal, Ontario, L'Orignal. It is located in Eastern Ontario, in the wedge-shaped ...
in
eastern
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Transportation
Airlines
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada. It is part of the
National Capital Region and is in the geographic county of Caledonia.
County Road 20 forms a 90-degree angle heading north and east from the settlement. The nearest named communities are Alfred in the township of Alfred Plantagenet to the north-west, and Vankleek Hill to the east. A tributary of the Ruisseau des Atocas flows through the community.
Caledonia Springs was once the site of a large mineral springs spa and hotel. Opening in the 1830s, it slowly grew from a simple structure to a very large luxury health spa and resort before closing in 1915. The hotel and grounds carried a number of different names becoming the Grand Hotel between 1875 and 1905, when the property was purchased by the
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
(CPR) who renamed it the Caledonia Springs Hotel. The hotel spa complex and the supporting village, also largely owned by the CPR, boasted a variety of hotels, inns, boarding houses, churches, schools and commercial establishments and at its peak had a population of perhaps 500 to 1000 persons. Though its customers came primarily from Montreal and Ottawa, people from as far away as New York and Europe came to enjoy the country and take the natural spring waters. The various owners of the hotel and spring over its long history also shipped large amounts of its mineral water across Canada, to the US and to Europe. The Caledonia Springs Hotel was closed by the CPR in 1915. The last hotel in the town, the Adanac Inn, closed in 1947 and the railway tracks and station, constructed in 1896, closed and were removed by 1986. Nothing is left now but a bike trail, known as the
Prescott and Russell Recreational Trail Prescott may refer to:
People
Given name
* Prescott E. Bloom, American lawyer and politician
* Prescott Bush, American banker and politician
* Samuel Prescott Bush, American industrialist
* Prescott F. Hall, American lawyer, author and eugenic ...
, which follows the old railway right of way.
References
*
*
Caledonia Springs-The Rise and Fall of One of Canada's Grandest Hotels. author Colin Affleck. June 2021.
External links
The Lost Glory of Caledonia Springs
Virtual Reference Library original books about Caledonia Springs
South nations conservation
Communities in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell
Ruins in Canada
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