Head, Clara and Maria, officially the United Townships of Head, Clara and Maria, is a municipality and incorporated
township
A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...
in
Renfrew County in
eastern Ontario
Eastern Ontario (census population 1,892,332 in 2021) () is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies a wedge-shaped area bounded by the Ottawa River and Quebec to the northeast and east, the St. Lawr ...
, Canada, It is on the
Ottawa River
The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...
and on the northern edge of
Algonquin Park
Algonquin Provincial Park is an Ontario provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Canada. Addit ...
.
Virtually all the communities (Deux-Rivières, Bissett Creek, Stonecliffe and Mackey) and activities are along
Highway 17; the rest of the township is largely
crown land
Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...
, which is mostly
wilderness
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...
. Property taxes are the lowest in Renfrew County.
History
The township of Head was named in honour of
Sir Edmund Walker Head, 8th Baronet who served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick 1847-1854 and Governor-General of Canada 1854-1861. The township of Maria was named in honour of his wife, Lady Anna Maria Head (Nee Yorke) (1808-1890).
File:Lady Anna Maria Head.jpg, Lady Anna Maria Head (née Yorke)
File:Edmund Walker Head.jpg, Sir Edmund Walker Head, 8th Baronet
Geography
Head, Clara and Maria is bordered on the north by the Ottawa River and on the south by Algonquin Provincial Park. Trans Canada Highway 17 runs through the four hamlets which make up this municipality.
The municipality has numerous with lakes and rivers, providing fishing, hunting, hiking, canoeing, and snowmobiling opportunities.
[
]
Communities
The township includes the communities of Aylen, Bissett Creek, Deux-Rivières, Mackey and Stonecliffe.
Deux-Rivières provides access to Algonquin Park via Brent Road. Stonecliffe is home to the municipal office and is near Driftwood Provincial Park.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...
, Head, Clara and Maria 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.[
]
Local government
List of former reeves:
* Jim Donnelly (1864)
* James Dunlop (1887–1902)
* W. P. Dunlop (1904–1909)
* Henery Beauchamp (1912–1916)
* J.E. Jennings (1917–1924)
* James E. Carey (1930–1936)
* D. A. Francoeur (1937–1950)
* George Clouthier (1951)
* Leslie J. Donnelly (1952–1964)
* Art Yates (1965–1968, 1971–1974)
* Loretta Boissonneault (1969–1970)
* Wyman Jennings (1975)
* Grant Horricks (1976–1980)
* Percy Watts (1981–1985)
* Ernie Boudreau (1986–1991)
* Lita Therrien (1992–1997)
* Colleen Clarriere (1998)
* William Crowshaw (1999–2006)
* Tammy Lea Stewart ( Sonnenburg) (2006–2014)
* Jim Gibson (2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
–2017)[https://townshipsofheadclaramaria.ca/download.php?dl=YToyOntzOjI6ImlkIjtzOjM6IjM2MCI7czozOiJrZXkiO2k6NTt9 ]
* Robert James Reid (2017–2018)
* Debbi Grills (2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
–present)
Transportation
Highway 17 is the main road connecting the community to destinations to the northwest and west. Ontario Northland Motor Coach Services operates an intercity bus route from Ottawa to Sudbury along Highway 17.
Notable people
* Michael James Heney, a railroad contractor known for his work on the first two railroads built in Alaska, the White Pass and Yukon Route and the Copper River and Northwestern Railway, was born in Stonecliffe.
See also
*List of francophone communities in Ontario
This is a list of francophone communities in Ontario. Municipalities with a high percentage of French-speakers in the Canadian province of Ontario are listed.
The provincial average of Ontarians whose mother tongue is French is 3.3%, with a to ...
*List of townships in Ontario
This is a list of township (Canada), townships in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Townships are listed by List of census divisions of Ontario, census division.
Northern Ontario Northeastern Ontario Algoma D ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario
Municipalities in Renfrew County
Township municipalities in Ontario
Populated places on the Ottawa River