Lake St. George | |
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![]() Lake St. George Conservation Field Centre-Doll House and Chalet | |
Location | Richmond Hill, Ontario |
Coordinates | 43°57′20.71″N79°25′32.37″W / 43.9557528°N 79.4256583°W |
Lake type | Kettle lake |
Basin countries | Canada |
Surface area | 140 ha (350 acres) |
Lake St. George is a kettle lake in Richmond Hill, Ontario and now located in the conservation area managed by the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA).
The lake is named for Henri St. George, French-born son of French Royalist, and one-time settler in Upper Canada Quetton St. George. Henri St. George settled in Upper Canada in 1847 and established his Glen Lonely estate in Richmond Hill, which contained the lake that bears his name. [1]
St. George died in 1896 and the property was owned by various people over the following decades. Robert Davies, the son of William Davies (founder of Canada Packers) purchased the property in 1906 and built the large estate house now known as 'Davies Hall'. After Davies death, the Glen Lonely lands were bought by Schuyler Snively, a World War 1 veteran, who transformed the property into a successful dairy farm, and model country estate. In 1965 the Snively family negotiated the sale of the property to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, with a proviso that they be allowed to reside there until their deaths. With Marjory's passing in 1968 and Schuyler in 1971, the sale of the land was complete.
In 1979 the Glen Lonely Farm and Estate was reborn as the Lake St. George Conservation Field Centre, an outdoor education facility that serves many school boards in Toronto and York Region as well as serving as a research and training resource for schools and universities throughout Ontario. Lake St. George's quiet, expansive forests and meadows, and its pristine kettle lake have become the basis for thousands of students introduction to experiential learning through a variety Ontario curriculum based programs. [2]
Other kettle lakes and bodies of water near Lake St. George:
The Province of Upper Canada was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Quebec since 1763. Upper Canada included all of modern-day Southern Ontario and all those areas of Northern Ontario in the Pays d'en Haut which had formed part of New France, essentially the watersheds of the Ottawa River or Lakes Huron and Superior, excluding any lands within the watershed of Hudson Bay. The "upper" prefix in the name reflects its geographic position along the Great Lakes, mostly above the headwaters of the Saint Lawrence River, contrasted with Lower Canada to the northeast.
Richmond Hill is a city in south-central York Region, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the York Region's third most populous municipality and the 27th most populous municipality in Canada. Richmond Hill is situated between the cities of Markham and Vaughan, north of Thornhill, and south of Aurora.
Yonge Street is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Ontario's first colonial administrator, John Graves Simcoe, named the street for his friend Sir George Yonge, an expert on ancient Roman roads.
The Don River is a watercourse in southern Ontario that empties into Lake Ontario, at Toronto Harbour. Its mouth was just east of the street grid of the town of York, Upper Canada, the municipality that evolved into Toronto, Ontario. The Don is one of the major watercourses draining Toronto that have headwaters in the Oak Ridges Moraine.
Georgetown is a large unincorporated community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada, in the Regional Municipality of Halton. The town includes several small villages or settlements such as Norval, Limehouse, Stewarttown and Glen Williams near Georgetown and another large population centre, Acton. In 2016, the population of Georgetown was 42,123. It sits on the banks of the Credit River, approximately 40 km west of Toronto, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area. Georgetown was named after entrepreneur George Kennedy who settled in the area in 1821 and built several mills and other businesses.
Whitchurch-Stouffville is a town in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada, approximately 50 km (31 mi) north of downtown Toronto, and 55 km (34 mi) north-east of Toronto Pearson International Airport. It is 206.22 km2 (79.62 sq mi) in area, and located in the mid-eastern area of the Regional Municipality of York on the ecologically-sensitive Oak Ridges Moraine. Its motto since 1993 is "country close to the city".
The Oak Ridges Moraine is an ecologically important geological landform in the Mixedwood Plains of south-central Ontario, Canada. The moraine covers a geographic area of 1,900 square kilometres (730 sq mi) between Caledon and Rice Lake, near Peterborough. One of the most significant landforms in southern Ontario, the moraine gets its name from the rolling hills and river valleys extending 160 km (99 mi) east from the Niagara Escarpment to Rice Lake, formed 12,000 years ago by advancing and retreating glaciers during the last glaciation period. Below the approximately 200 metre thick glacial derived sediments of the moraine lies thick bedrock successions of Precambrian rocks and up to 200 metres of Ordovician aged rock, capped by a regional unconformity of erosion and non-deposition to the Quaternary period. Rivers and lakes scatter the landscape and are important for creating habitat for the rich diversity of species of animals, trees and shrubbery. These are also the supply of fresh water to aquifers in the moraine through complex subterranean connections. Construction development nearby, and with expansion of communities around the moraine in need of potable water, it is a contested site in Ontario, since it stands in the path of major urban development. Conservation of the moraine is thus an important step for keeping aquifers in a safe drinkable condition while also protecting the natural ecosystems surrounding and within the moraine. This region has been subject to multiple decades of scientific research to study the origins of formation, and how early communities used the land. A larger focus currently is how to source potable water without removing the aquifer entirely.
The Rouge River is a river in Markham, Pickering, Richmond Hill and Toronto in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. The river flows from the Oak Ridges Moraine to Lake Ontario at the eastern border of Toronto, and is the location of Rouge Park, the only national park in Canada within a municipality. At its southern end, the Rouge River is the boundary between Toronto and southwestern Pickering in the Regional Municipality of Durham.
Thomas Talbot was an Irish-born Canadian soldier and colonial administrator. He founded the community of Port Talbot, Ontario, which was at one time the most prosperous town in the region due to his insistence on building quality roads, and was responsible for enticing 50,000 people to settle in the Thames River area.
Oak Ridges is an unincorporated community of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, and has been part of the city since 1971. It forms the northern portion of the municipality's boundary, where it borders Aurora. Located about 20 km north of the northern border of Toronto and about 35 km from Downtown Toronto, it has a population of 18,520 (2016). The community developed around Lake Wilcox, the largest lake in the area, and has continued to expand slowly since its annexation by the Town of Richmond Hill. In the 1990s, Oak Ridges experienced moderate growth, which spurred environmental action by numerous organizations. Population has grown significantly as a result of development initiatives along Bayview Avenue. The Oak Ridges Community Centre was built and completed in June 2012 to accommodate community demand.
Kettleby is an unincorporated community in the northeastern part of King Township in Ontario, Canada. It is located about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) east of Highway 400, 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Toronto, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Barrie, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) west of Newmarket, and about 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of Orangeville.
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) is a conservation authority in southern Ontario, Canada. It owns about 16,000 hectares of land in the Toronto region, and it employs more than 400 full-time employees and coordinates more than 3,000 volunteers each year. TRCA's area of jurisdiction is watershed-based and includes 3,467 square kilometres (1,339 sq mi) – 2,506 on land and 961 water-based in Lake Ontario. This area comprises nine watersheds from west to east – Etobicoke Creek, Mimico Creek, Humber River, Don River, Highland Creek, Petticoat Creek, Rouge River, Duffins Creek and Carruthers Creek.
Conservation Ontario is the network of Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities in Ontario, Canada. Conservation Authorities are local, watershed management agencies that deliver services and programs that protect and manage water and other natural resources in partnership with government, landowners and other organizations.
Lake Wilcox is a kettle lake in the Oak Ridges neighbourhood of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. The lake measures 1.5 kilometers across and covers 55.6 hectares or 0.55 square kilometres, making it the largest kettle lake on the Oak Ridges Moraine. Lake Wilcox, Lake St. George and their associated wetlands form a "provincially significant wetland".
The history of Richmond Hill began when the First Nations came and settled in the area. With the Toronto Purchase, the city gradually expanded with new greenhouse industries and improved transportation infrastructure.
The Huron Tract Purchase also known as the Huron Block, registered as Crown Treaty Number 29, is a large area of land in southwestern Ontario bordering on Lake Huron to the west and Lake Erie to the east. The area spans the counties of Huron, Perth, Middlesex and present day Lambton County, Ontario in the province of Ontario.
The Toronto waterway system comprises a series of natural and man-made watercourses in the Canadian city of Toronto. The city is dominated by a large river system spanning most of the city including the Don River, Etobicoke Creek, Highland Creek, Humber River, Mimico Creek and Rouge River.
Laurent Quetton St. George was a French Royalist military officer who became a merchant and landowner in Upper Canada.
Bond Lake is a 55-acre (22 ha) glacial kettle lake in the Oak Ridges Moraine. It is located on the east side of Yonge Street in the north end of Richmond Hill, Ontario.