Rideau Lakes 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Rideau Lakes lies in the northwest corner of Leeds and Grenville, and is geographically the largest municipality in the county. The township administrative offices are located in the hamlet of Chantry. The township was incorporated on 1 January 1998 by amalgamating the former Townships of North Crosby, South Crosby, Bastard and South Burgess, and South Elmsley, as well as the Village of Newboro.

Farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

, and

service industries Service industries are those not directly concerned with the production of physical goods (such as agriculture and manufacturing). Some service industries, including transportation, wholesale trade and retail trade are part of the supply chai ...

form the backbone of the local

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

. The many tourist attractions in Rideau Lakes, including historic

trails A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...

, the stone arch dam at

Jones Falls The Jones Falls is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 stream in Maryland. It is impounded to create Lake Roland before running through the city of Baltim ...

, and the

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 ...

, are also an important part of the township's economy. Rideau Lakes has of

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 ...

, excluding 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 ...

. The waterway itself traverses the township, from the towering

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

cliffs near Chaffeys Lock to the more gentle and pastoral areas of the Lower Rideau Lake.

Communities

Rideau Lakes contains many villages and hamlets, including: * Chaffeys Lock * Chantry * Crosby * Daytown *

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

* Elgin * Forfar * Freeland * Harlem *

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

* Morton * Newboro * Newboyne * Philipsville * Plum Hollow *

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Rideau Ferry Rideau Ferry is a small community in Eastern Ontario, Canada, along the Rideau Waterway. Rideau Ferry straddles a narrow stretch of water joining the Big Rideau Lake to the Lower Rideau Lake. At Rideau Ferry, the south shore of the Rideau Water ...

* Scotch Point The independent village of Westport is entirely surrounded by Rideau Lakes, but is not part of the township. Image:Crosby ON.JPG, Old school building in Crosby Image:Elgin ON.JPG, Elgin Image:Lombardy ON.JPG, Lombardy Image:Newboro ON.JPG, Newboro

Newboro

A plaque was erected by the Ontario Heritage Foundation commemorating the founding of Newboro with the building of the

in 1826–32. Benjamin Tett settled here in 1833. He opened a store and later a post office. The community served as a major construction camp during the building of the Rideau Canal. Newboro was a trade centre for the region's lumbering industry and agriculture. The economic development of the community was enabled by the shipment of iron ore from local mines via the Rideau canal to smelters in Pittsburgh and Cleveland during the latter part of the 19th century.http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_5888_1.html Ontario Heritage Trust Founding of Newboro The Village of Newboro was incorporated in 1876.

Chaffey's Lock

A plaque was erected by the Ontario Heritage Foundation commemorating the founding of Chaffey's Lock by Benjamin and Samuel Chaffey, who established mills here in 1820. Samuel Chaffey settling here shortly thereafter. The site included a distillery and saw, grist, carding, and fulling mills by 1827. The mills were flooded by the building of the

. A plaque was erected by the Chaffey's Lock and Area Heritage Society commemorating the founders, early builders, and all who have been part of the Chaffey's Lock community. Plaques have been erected by individuals and families on the Memory Wall, at Chaffey's Lock Cemetery. The Queen's University Biological Station is located just southwest of Chaffey's Lock.

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 ...

, Rideau Lakes 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: ** Bastard and South Burgess Township: 2692 ** Newboro Village: 291 ** North Crosby Township: 1097 ** South Crosby Township: 1910 ** South Elmsley Township: 3574 * Population in 1991: ** Bastard and South Burgess Township: 2610 ** Newboro Village: 282 ** North Crosby Township: 968 ** South Crosby Township: 1677 ** South Elmsley Township: 3065 Mother tongue (2021): * English as first language: 94.1% * French as first language: 2.3% * English and French as first language: 0.5% * Other as first language: 2.9%

Tourism and attractions

The

Rideau Trail The Rideau Trail is a hiking trail in Ontario, Canada, linking Ottawa and Kingston.Trischuk, Ernie, and Linda Hayes, ''The Rideau Trail Guidebook'', (Rideau Trail Association, Kingston, 7th ed., 2006) Crossing both public and private lands, the ...

, a footpath from Kingston to Ottawa, passes through the township. The highest point on the trail is located in the

Foley Mountain Conservation Area Foley Mountain Conservation Area, the highest conservation area in the Rideau Valley, overlooks Upper Rideau Lake and Westport. It features a variety of wildlife in 325 hectares (800 acres) of woods, ponds and fields. The area also h ...

, which is located within the township. The

Cataraqui Trail The Cataraqui Trail is a multi-use linear recreational rail trail in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The route passes by farmland, woods, lakes, and wetlands. The trail begins southwest of Smiths Falls, at a parking lot south of Ontario Highway 15 de ...

, a

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

on a former

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

right-of-way, goes through the township, passing near Portland, Elgin, and Chaffey's Lock. The Old Stone Mill National Historic Site is located within the village of Delta. Trout island is a double island on the Rideau lakes; it became famous for its great trout fishing. There are three cottages on the island.

References

External links

* {{Leeds and Grenville Township municipalities in Ontario Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Municipalities in Leeds and Grenville United Counties Populated places established in 1998 1998 establishments in Ontario