Leeds and the Thousand Islands is a

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 the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

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 ...

, located within the

United Counties of Leeds and Grenville The United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, commonly known as Leeds and Grenville, is a county and census division in Ontario, Canada, in the Eastern Ontario subregion of Southern Ontario. It fronts on the St. Lawrence River and the internation ...

. The township is located along the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

, including most of the Canadian

Thousand Islands The Thousand Islands (, ) 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 about downstream fr ...

, and extending north into rural hamlets and villages. The Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands was formed on January 1, 2001, when three historic townships, Front of Leeds & Lansdowne, Rear of Leeds & Lansdowne, and Front of Escott, were amalgamated. Its services include a public library system and the LTI Archives.

Communities

The township comprises the communities of: * Berryton * Black Rapids * Brier Hill * Cheeseborough * Darlingside * Dulcemaine * Ebenezer * Eden Grove * Ellisville * Emery * Escott * Fairfax * Gananoque Junction * Gray's Beach * Greenfield * Grenadier Island * Halsteads Bay * Holland * Ivy Lea * Junetown * La Rue Mills * Lansdowne * Leeds * Legge * Long Point * Lyndhurst * Maple Grove * Mitchellville * Narrows * Oak Leaf * Outlet * Pooles Resort * Quabbin * Rockfield * Rockport * Sand Bay Corner * Seeley's Bay * Selton * Soperton * Sweets Corners * Taylor * Tilley * Union * Warburton * Washburns Corners * Waterton * Willowbank * Wilstead

Lansdowne

Lansdowne, Ontario is a small community located just north of

Ivy Lea, Ontario Leeds and the Thousand Islands is a township (Canada), township in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, located within the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville. The township is located along the St. Lawrence R ...

and 4 km north of

Highway 401 King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian prov ...

, at the intersection of

Leeds and Grenville The United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, commonly known as Leeds and Grenville, is a county and census division in Ontario, Canada, in the Eastern Ontario subregion of Southern Ontario. It fronts on the St. Lawrence River and the internation ...

County Roads A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the County (United States), county highway departm ...

3 and 34. It can be accessed by former Kings Highway 2 (which passes just south of the village) or by Highway 401 at Exit 659. The administrative offices of the township are located here. There is an independent telephone exchange (+1-613-659-) and a post office (K0E 1L0). The Canadian

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

point of entry ''Point of Entry'' is the seventh studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 27 February 1981 by Columbia Records. Following the commercial success of their previous album '' British Steel'' (1980), Priest pursued a mor ...

at the terminus of US Interstate 81 on

Hill Island Hill Island is a Baffin Island offshore island located in the Arctic Archipelago in the territory of Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated o ...

identifies itself as ''Lansdowne 456''.

Lyndhurst

The Lansdowne Iron Works, was founded by Wallis Sunderlin on the

Gananoque River The Gananoque River is a river in Leeds and Grenville United Counties in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Shows the course of the river highlighted on a map. The river is in the Atlantic Ocean drainage basin and is a left tributary of the Saint Lawrence ...

by 1801. The ironworks enabled the economic development of a small industrial community called Furnace Falls. The iron smelter was destroyed by fire in 1811. Several mills were established in Furnace Falls by Charles and Jonas Jones of

Brockville Brockville is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically Independent city, independent of the county. It is included with Leeds and ...

in 1827. The settlement was renamed Lyndhurst by 1846. The Lansdowne Iron Works was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...

in 1932. A plaque commemorating the founding of Lyndhurst (Furnace Falls) in 1801 was erected by the Ontario Heritage Foundation. A plaque commemorating the Lyndhurst Bridge, built in 1856–1857, was erected by the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board. Designed by John Roddick, the masonry arch bridge was erected by contractors Miles Fulford and Simon Ransom. Camp Hyanto, an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church camp operated on the lake from the 1940s until 2022. There is a cultural celebration in Lyndhurst dubbed the "Turkey Fair" celebrated annually on the third Saturday in September. This celebration involves hay-stack decoration, petting zoos, fishing contests for kids, crafts and 50/50 draws. The Lyndhurst Ice Fishing Derby, in late February, has been going for more than fifteen years.

Rockport

Rockport is a village on the St. Lawrence River with historic homes, restaurants, resorts, boat launch and marinas. It has been a port since the late 1700s and is now a major terminus for Thousand Islands cruise tours. There are bicycle racks, benches, and well marked walking paths with interpretive signs and murals for points of historical interest. Two churches that were founded in the late 1800s remain active. Both reflect the architecture of their time. For decades boats were built in Rockport; from small wooden St. Lawrence skiffs to large tour boats used on the St. Lawrence River, in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

on the Rideau and

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 ...

s, and as far away as

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. Before the building of the

Thousand Islands Bridge The Thousand Islands International Bridge () is an American-maintained international bridge system over the Saint Lawrence River connecting northern New York in the United States with southeastern Ontario in Canada. Constructed in 1937, with add ...

nearby, ferryboats connected the US and Canada. The area remains famous for boat building, as the industry is producing ice boats that make winter travel to local island homes possible.

Seeley's Bay

Seeley's Bay is at the north west corner of the Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands and is most known for fishing and its direct access to the UNESCO designated

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal is a 202-kilometre long canal that links the Ottawa River at Ottawa with the Cataraqui River and Lake Ontario at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Its 46 Lock (water navigation), locks raise boats from the Ottawa River 83 metres (272 ...

. The village was established early in the 19th century as a port of call for steamers going between Kingston and Ottawa on the Rideau Canal. Located just off Highway 15, about 20 minutes north of the 401 Highway, it still serves as the first full service port of call for boaters coming north on the Rideau. The annual Seeley's Bay Frost Fest, in early February, has been going for more than thirty years.

Climate

Demographics

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 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 ...

, Leeds and the Thousand Islands 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. * Population in 1996: ** Front of Escott: 1,383 ** Front of Leeds and Lansdowne: 4,897 ** Rear of Leeds and Lansdowne: 2,895 * Population in 1991: ** Front of Escott: 1,275 ** Front of Leeds and Lansdowne: 4,686 ** Rear of Leeds and Lansdowne: 2,774 Mother tongue (2021): * English as first language: 93.8% * French as first language: 2.4% * English and French as first language: 0.5% * Other as first language: 2.9%

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leeds And The Thousand Islands, Ontario Township municipalities in Ontario Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Municipalities in Leeds and Grenville United Counties Ontario populated places on the Saint Lawrence River