Rideau Ferry is a small

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, along the

Rideau Waterway 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 locks raise boats from the Ottawa River 83 metres (272 feet) upstream along th ...

. Rideau Ferry straddles a narrow stretch of water joining the Big Rideau Lake to the

Lower Rideau Lake Big Rideau Lake is a lake in the municipalities of Tay Valley, Ontario, Tay Valley and Drummond/North Elmsley, Lanark County and Rideau Lakes, Ontario, Rideau Lakes, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville in Eastern Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Canad ...

. At Rideau Ferry, the south shore of the Rideau Waterway is located within the

Township of Rideau Lakes Rideau Lakes is a township (Canada), township located within the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Rideau Lakes lies in the northwest corner of Leeds and Grenville, and is geographically the largest municipality ...

Leeds and Grenville County 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 ...

, and the north shore is located within the township of Drummond/North Elmsley in

Lanark County Lanark County is a county and Census divisions of Canada, census division located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is Perth, Ontario, Perth, which was first settled in 1816Brown, Howard Morton, 1984. Lanark Legacy, Nineteenth ...

History

Despite the name of the community, there is no

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service operating at Rideau Ferry in the present day. A

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

was constructed to allow passage across the Rideau in 1874, allowing travellers from

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 ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

to more easily cross the Rideau to travel to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. Rideau Ferry was originally known as Oliver's Ferry after John Oliver, a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

in South Elmsley township (now part of Rideau Lakes), who settled here in 1816 and started a ferry service across this narrow section of Rideau Lake. According to local legend, Mr. Oliver was said to have an unusual habit of refusing to transport passengers after dark, instead putting them up in his house for the night. His neighbours, though, never saw the travellers in the morning. Several of the travellers did not arrive at their intended destination and were thought to be victims of

highway robbery A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to foo ...

. Years later, when Oliver's house was torn down to allow a bridge to be built, human skeletons were found in the walls and under the floorboards of additions Oliver had made to the original house. Although later found to be untrue, this story persists as a local legend. In the 1890s, a number of summer homes and

cottages A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

were established along the south shore of the Lower Rideau Lake, many of which remain with the same families today.

Services and attractions

The Rideau Ferry Conservation Area was established along a

shoreline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

property on the Lower Rideau Lake. The former Rideau Ferry Yacht Club donated the property in 1976 to provide a public

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for happiness, enjoyment, amusement, ...

area with access to the lake.Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
/ref> Rideau Ferry is also home to a restaurant, a general store, a motel, a Castle Building Centre, an art studio and a marina.

References

External links

Rideau Valley Conservation AuthorityRideau Ferry Marine
{{authority control Communities in Leeds and Grenville United Counties Communities in Lanark County