Rideau Lakes

Communities

Rideau Lakes contains many villages and hamlets, spread across four electoral wards, including:

Ward 1: Bastard and South Burgess

• Chantry
• Delta
• Chaffeys Lock
• Daytown
• Forfar
• Freeland
• Harlem
• Newboyne
• Philipsville
• Plum Hollow
• Portland
• Scotch Point

Ward 2: South Elmsley

• Lombardy
• Rideau Ferry

Ward 3: South Crosby

• Chaffeys Lock
• Crosby
• Elgin
• Jones Falls
• Morton

Ward 4: North Crosby and Newboro

• Blairs Settlement
• Newboro
• Salem

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 Rideau Canal 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. 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 Rideau Canal. 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 conducted by Statistics Canada, 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 711.81 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

| 2001 |9687 | 2006 |10350 | 2011 |10207 | 2016 |10326 | 2021 |10883

• 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, a 300 km footpath from Kingston to Ottawa, passes through the township. The highest point on the trail is located in the Foley Mountain Conservation Area, which is located within the township. The Cataraqui Trail, a rail trail on a former Canadian National 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

References

1. "Council Members".
2. {{SCref. (2021)
3. "Ontario Summary of Municipal Restructuring".
4. (2023). "Rideau Lakes marks 25 years as a municipality". Township of Rideau Lakes.
5. "Township of Rideau Lakes".
6. "Rideau Lakes Electoral Boundaries". Rideau Lakes Township.
7. http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_5888_1.html Ontario Heritage Trust Founding of Newboro