Beckwith | |
---|---|
Township of Beckwith | |
Coordinates: 45°05′N76°04′W / 45.083°N 76.067°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Ontario |
County | Lanark |
Government | |
• Type | Township |
• Reeve | Richard Kidd |
• Governing Body | Beckwith Township Council |
• MP | Scott Reid (CPC) |
• MPP | Randy Hillier (OPC) |
Area | |
• Total | 240.47 km2 (92.85 sq mi) |
Population (2011) [1] | |
• Total | 7,644 |
• Density | 31.8/km2 (82/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC−05:00 (EST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−04:00 (EDT) |
Area codes | 613, 343 |
Website | www.twp.beckwith.on.ca |
Beckwith is a township in eastern Ontario, Canada. It is located in Lanark County on the Mississippi River. It is located within Canada's National Capital Region.
The township comprises the communities of Black's Corners, Franktown, Gillies Corners, Prospect, and the western half of Ashton (with the eastern half being within the City of Ottawa), as well as the lakeside communities of Gardiner Shore, Lake Park, Petrie Shore, Rathwell's Shore, Scotch Corners and Tennyson.
Black's Corners, a hamlet south of Carleton Place, is the location for the town hall of Beckwith. This site was chosen in 1857 as a compromise between Franktown and Carleton Place where the township council had met on an alternating basis previously. [2] Currently, there are two marine's, an auto shop, and previously a gas station.
Franktown promotes itself as the "Lilac Capital of Ontario". It is home to Lilac Lane, which features a beautiful park containing many lilac bushes that have grown there naturally over time, and where a lilac festival is held the last Saturday of May. Within the park facility there is also a baseball diamond.
Also located within Franktown are the Calvary Christian Academy, a private school, and the "Franktown General Store", which features a gas bar, general merchandise, take-out foods, as well as dry-cleaning services.
On the ninth Line Road, east of Blacks Corners, Beckwith Park is being developed. It includes an indoor hockey rink and soccer pitch and outdoor artificial turf for football, soccer and rugby. The park include bush with walking trails and a pond. The extensive grass area includes twelve soccer pitches, a baseball and a softball field, a coverall building and open space to hold civic events like Beckwith Heritage Days. The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees football team played one season there while their new stadium was under construction.
Beckwith was originally covered in deciduous forest, [3] much of which has been cleared for agriculture. Common trees include sugar maple, beech, oak and ash. [4] Trees like hickory and butternut are less common. Wetter areas have elm, silver maple and white cedar. Hemlock was much more common in the past, but logging for tanbark, used in tanning, has much depleted this species. [5] The enormous Goodwood Swamp is one of the most important natural areas in the township. [6] There are several different access points to see this vast wetland by car and on foot. [7] The Jock River, a popular canoe route, originates here, near Franktown.
The wetlands on the north-western shore of Mississippi Lake are also provincially significant. Within the town of Carleton Place, along the rapids of Mississippi River, there is a large and regionally significant hackberry forest. [8]
The area has two main physiographic types: clay deposits over limestone, and exposed areas of limestone plain. These clay deposits were left behind by the Champlain Sea which flooded the Beckwith area about ten thousand years ago at the end of the last ice age. [9] [10] In the extreme northwestern corner there is an outcrop of Canadian Shield. Along the edge of this shield outcrop one can trace the old shoreline of the Champlain Sea. [11]
An Environment and Climate Change Canada weather radar station for Ottawa and eastern Ontario, part of the Canadian weather radar network, is located at Franktown. [12]
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1991 | 4,564 | — |
1996 | 5,495 | +20.4% |
2001 | 6,046 | +10.0% |
2006 | 6,387 | +5.6% |
2011 | 6,986 | +9.4% |
2016 | 7,644 | +9.4% |
2021 | 9,021 | +18.0% |
[13] [14] [1] |
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Beckwith had a population of 9,021 living in 3,371 of its 3,523 total private dwellings, a change of 18% from its 2016 population of 7,644. With a land area of 239.31 km2 (92.40 sq mi), it had a population density of 37.7/km2 (97.6/sq mi) in 2021. [15]
2021 | 2016 | 2011 | |
---|---|---|---|
Population | 9,021 (+18.0% from 2016) | 7,644 (+9.4% from 2011) | 6,986 (+9.4% from 2006) |
Land area | 239.31 km2 (92.40 sq mi) | 240.47 km2 (92.85 sq mi) | 240.51 km2 (92.86 sq mi) |
Population density | 37.7/km2 (98/sq mi) | 31.8/km2 (82/sq mi) | 29.0/km2 (75/sq mi) |
Median age | 44.4 (M: 44.0, F: 44.8) | 44.4 (M: 43.9, F: 44.9) | |
Private dwellings | 3,523 (total) 3,371 (occupied) | 2,860 (total) | 2,817 (total) |
Median household income | $126,000 | $102,707 |
Carleton Place is a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in Lanark County, about 46 kilometres (29 mi) west of downtown Ottawa. It is located at the crossroads of Highway 15 and Highway 7, halfway between the towns of Perth, Almonte, Smiths Falls, and the nation's capital, Ottawa. Canada's Mississippi River, a tributary of the Ottawa River flows through the town. Mississippi Lake is just upstream by boat, as well as by car.
The Thousand Islands – Frontenac Arch region or the Frontenac Axis is an exposed strip of Precambrian rock in Canada and the United States that links the Canadian Shield from Algonquin Park with the Adirondack Mountain region in New York, an extension of the Laurentian mountains of Québec. The Algonquin to Adirondacks region, which includes the Frontenac Axis or Arch, is a critical linkage for biodiversity and resilience, and one with important conservation potential. The axis separates the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the Great Lakes Lowlands. It has many distinctive plant and animal species. It is one of four ecoregions of the Mixedwood Plains.
The Nation is a municipality in Eastern Ontario, located within Canada's National Capital Region, in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell. Formed in 1998, the municipality consists of the former townships of Caledonia, Cambridge and South Plantagenet, as well as the Village of St. Isidore.
Mississippi Mills is a town in eastern Ontario, Canada, in Lanark County on the Mississippi River. It is made up of the former Townships of Ramsay and Pakenham, as well as the Town of Almonte. It is partly located within Canada's National Capital Region.
Alfred and Plantagenet is a Franco-Ontarian township in eastern Ontario, Canada, in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell. Located approximately 70 km (43 mi) from downtown Ottawa at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the South Nation River.
Renfrew County is a county in the Canadian province of Ontario. It stands on the west bank of the Ottawa River. There are 17 municipalities in the county.
The Mississippi River is a tributary of the Ottawa River in Eastern Ontario, Canada which has no relation with the Mississippi River in the United States. It is 200 kilometres (120 mi) in length from its source at Mackavoy Lake, has a drainage area of 4,450 square kilometres (1,720 sq mi), and has a mean discharge of 40 cubic metres per second (1,400 cu ft/s). There are more than 250 lakes in the watershed.
Lanark County is a county located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is Perth, which was first settled in 1816.
Drummond/North Elmsley is a township in eastern Ontario, Canada in Lanark County. It is situated on the north shore of the Rideau River between the town of Perth and the town of Smiths Falls. It is a predominantly rural municipality. The township offices are located in the hamlet of Port Elmsley.
Lanark Highlands is a township in eastern Ontario, Canada in Lanark County. The township administrative offices are located in the village of Lanark.
Tay Valley is a township in eastern Ontario, Canada, on the Tay River in the southwest corner of Lanark County, adjacent to the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville and Frontenac County. The township administrative offices are located in Glen Tay.
The United Counties of Prescott and Russell are consolidated counties located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is L'Orignal. It was created as a result of a merger between Russell County and Prescott County in 1820. It is located in Eastern Ontario, in the wedge-shaped area between the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River, approximately 55 km east of the City of Ottawa.
Bells Corners is a suburban neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located along Robertson Road west of downtown, within Ottawa's western Greenbelt, in College Ward. As of the Canada 2016 Census, the community had a population of 9,272.
Westmeath Provincial Park is a provincial park on the Ottawa River in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Located on the section of the river known as Bellows Bay, it features a long sandy beach and an active sandspit. It is one of the most pristine sand dune and wetland complexes along the southern Ottawa River.
Paul Anthony Keddy is a Canadian ecologist. He has studied plant population ecology and community ecology in wetlands and many other habitats in eastern Canada and Louisiana, United States.
Mississippi Lake is a lake in Lanark County in Ontario, Canada. Ontario's Mississippi River flows northeast and north through the lake. Several small creeks including Cranberry Creek, McCrearys Creek, and McGibbon Creek drain into the lake from adjoining forest and agricultural land. The lake is distinctive for having one side that is part of the Canadian shield, while the other is mostly limestone. The lake is a remnant of the old Champlain Sea, which flooded eastern Ontario at the end of last ice age. The former shoreline of the sea can still be traced inland from the north shore of the lake.
The White Lake fen is a small wetland on the shore of White Lake in Lanark County, Ontario in Canada. It has been designated both an Area of Natural and Scientific Interest and a Provincially Significant Wetland; it is also listed as a Special Place in Lanark County. Fens are a relatively rare wetland habitat in the region of Lanark County; they can occur on either marble or limestone bedrock. White lake has a granite dome along its north shore, while it spreads over marble bedrock to the south. A number of calcareous fens have developed along the south shore. The largest of these has developed in a long narrow arm of the lake, where it stretches for nearly two kilometers and covers 90 ha.
The Burnt Lands is an alvar between Almonte and Ottawa near Upper Huntley, Ontario, Canada. It probably obtained its name from one of the forest fires that swept the area during early European settlement.
The Keddy Nature Sanctuary consists of approximately one square mile of forest and wetland on the very edge of the Canadian shield, just an hour west of Ottawa on the east side of Lanark County, in Ontario, Canada. It is mostly second growth temperate deciduous forest, interspersed with wetlands and beaver ponds, as well as sedge-dominated rock-ridges. A central ridge has more than twenty hectares of hemlock forest. There are also old fields that remain from pastures created in the previous century. Parts of this property, as well as adjoining lands, are designated as the Scotch Corners Provincially Significant Wetland. The property is one of several protected by the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust.
Scotch Corners Wetland is a provincially significant wetland complex located in Lanark County, Ontario, Canada. The 202 hectares area has a wide array of wetland types including swamps, marshes, vernal pools, beaver ponds and seepage areas. It forms the headwaters of several creeks that drain into Mississippi Lake.