Port Carling is an unincorporated community in the Township of Muskoka Lakes in the Canadian province of Ontario. [1] It has been the municipal seat of the township since 1971. It has several hundred year-round residents and is a service centre for thousands of other seasonal residents in the area.
Besides the town, which maintains much of its older architecture, there are several tourist and cultural sites:
Port Carling is located on the Indian River and owes its importance to its key position on the water routes of the area. A set of locks joins Lake Muskoka and Lake Rosseau, so much boat and ship traffic in the township passes through, hence its nickname Hub of the Lakes.
The community is directly located on the two-lane Muskoka Road 118, and improvements to Highway 69 now link it to the controlled-access freeway Highway 400 and the sometimes divided Highway 11. This has greatly facilitated its increasing role as a tourist destination from the Toronto area.
The Ojibway settled in the area in the 1850s. They called their settlement Obajewanung or Obogawanung, while Europeans called it Indian Gardens. Before white settlers moved into the newly surveyed Medora Township starting in the 1860s, the Ojibway moved to Parry Sound but continued to summer in Port Carling.
In 1869, Benjamin Hardcastle Johnston established a post office here and called it Port Carling. John Carling, the Ontario Minister of Public Works, was a booster of the locks between the lakes which were completed in 1871. This led to an economic boom fuelled by tourism and logging, resulting in the building of four resorts, two sawmills and three Protestant churches of the 1870s. The Orange Order was active in the area, and few Catholics settled here.
The Port Carling Boat Works Ltd. traces its origins to an enterprise started in 1868 by William J. Johnston. It captured a niche market after his relatives developed the disappearing propeller boat and operated the company under that name for a while.
Port Carling became independent of Medora Township and was incorporated as a village in 1896 (a status it would keep until 1971). As it grew, the locks were widened in 1903 to permit steamship traffic and in 1922 smaller pleasure boat locks were installed. The Port Carling Volunteer Fire Department began in 1912 and got its biggest workout in 1931 when a series of fires ravaged the boat works and much of the downtown.
James Bartleman has been Port Carling's most prominent government official outside the community. The part-Ojibway man was a diplomat and lieutenant governor of Ontario. He wrote Out of Muskoka, a personal reminiscence of his upbringing and some of the less savoury aspects of local history.
Orillia is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is in Simcoe County between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Although it is geographically located within Simcoe County, the city is a single-tier municipality. It is part of the Huronia region of Central Ontario. The population in 2016 was 31,166.
Huntsville is the largest town in the Muskoka Region of Ontario, Canada. It is located 215 kilometres (134 mi) north of Toronto and 130 kilometres (81 mi) south of North Bay.
Bracebridge is a town and the seat of the Muskoka District Municipality in Ontario, Canada.
The District Municipality of Muskoka, more generally referred to as the District of Muskoka or Muskoka, is a regional municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Muskoka extends from Georgian Bay in the west, to the northern tip of Lake Couchiching in the south, to the western border of Algonquin Provincial Park in the east. A two-hour drive north of Toronto, Muskoka spans 6,475 km2 (2,500 sq mi). Muskoka has some 1,600 lakes, making it a popular cottaging destination.
The Township of Georgian Bay is an area municipality of the District Municipality of Muskoka, in south-central Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Severn River, where it empties into the eponymous Georgian Bay. The municipal offices are at Port Severn.
The Township of Muskoka Lakes is a municipality of the District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. It has a year-round population of 6,588.
Simcoe County is located in the central portion of Southern Ontario, Canada. The county is just north of the Greater Toronto Area, stretching from the shores of Lake Simcoe in the east to Georgian Bay in the west. Simcoe County forms part of the Greater Golden Horseshoe area, a densely populated and industrialized region, centred on the Greater Toronto Area.
Central Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario that lies between Georgian Bay and the eastern end of Lake Ontario.
Bala is a compact rural community in the township municipality of Muskoka Lakes, District Municipality of Muskoka in Central Ontario, Canada. It is well-known for the Bala Falls, the source of the Moon River, where that river drains Lake Muskoka.
Port Credit is a neighbourhood in the south-central part of the City of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located at the mouth of the Credit River on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Its main intersection is Hurontario Street and Lakeshore Road, about 0.6 kilometres (0.37 mi) east of the river. Until 1974, Port Credit was an incorporated town. Its approximate boundaries are the Canadian National Railway to the north, Seneca Avenue to the east and Shawnmarr Road to the west. It had a population of 10,260 at the 2001 census.
Muskoka was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1872 to 1882 and from 1904 to 1925. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was also a provincial electoral district represented in the Ontario Legislative Assembly from 1955 to 1987.
Lake Muskoka is located between Port Carling and Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada. The lake is surrounded by many cottages. The lake is primarily within the boundary of the Township of Muskoka Lakes, the southeast corner is within the boundary of the Town of Gravenhurst and another small portion around the mouth of the Muskoka River is within the boundary of the Town of Bracebridge. The town of Bala is located on the southwest shores of the lake, where the Moon River starts. Lake Muskoka is connected to Lake Rosseau through the Indian River and lock system at Port Carling. The lake is mainly fed by the Muskoka River, Lake Joseph and Lake Rosseau.
Magnetawan is a township in the Almaguin Highlands region of the Parry Sound District in the Canadian province of Ontario, as well as the name of the primary population centre in the township.
King's Highway 118, commonly referred to as Highway 118, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The route travels across South-Central Ontario between Highway 11 near Bracebridge and Highway 28 near Bancroft. Several communities are served by the route, including Uffington, Vankoughnet, Carnarvon, West Guilford, Haliburton Village, Tory Hill, Cardiff and Paudash.
King's Highway 141, commonly referred to as Highway 141, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its western terminus is at Highway 400 south of Horseshoe Lake in Seguin Township while its eastern terminus is at Highway 11 near Port Sydney. The route was designated in 1974 when Highway 532 was renumbered and upgraded from a secondary highway to a King's Highway. The route has remained generally unchanged since, though it was extended by several kilometres on October 7, 2003 when Highway 400 was extended north of Mactier.
Beaumaris is a small settlement in Ontario, Canada, on Lake Muskoka which once served as an important transit point during the steamship era on the lake, and once hosted a summer hotel, called the Beaumaris Hotel. The settlement is located on Tondern Island which, though a true island, is attached to the mainland by a small bridge at Milford Bay. Currently the settlement sports a government pier, The Beaumaris Marina, a general store dubbed Willmotts Store after a prominent Beaumaris family, Saint John's Anglican Church, and a private summer club; the Beaumaris Yacht Club.
Loring, Port Loring and District is a local services board in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Parry Sound District, and by extension, the Almaguin Highlands region.
The Indian River is a river in Muskoka Lakes, Muskoka District in Central Ontario, Canada. It is in the Great Lakes Basin, and connects Lake Rosseau (upstream) with Lake Muskoka (downstream).
The Muskoka Wharf is located in the town of Gravenhurst, Ontario on the southern edge of Muskoka Bay on Lake Muskoka. The Muskoka Wharf is the home port of the RMS Segwun, the oldest operating steamship in North America and the last surviving original steamship from the fleet of several dozen that served the county of Muskoka, Ontario in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and the Wenonah II, a modern replica of an early 20th-century steamship. The Muskoka Wharf, once a vibrant hub of economic activity at the union of a major railroad terminus and steamship port, fell into decline as roads and automobiles were introduced to the region, but has experienced a major economic resurgence since the creation of a heritage-based development area in 2005.
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Coordinates: 45°06′49″N79°34′23″W / 45.113509°N 79.57296°W