Ramara | |
---|---|
Township of Ramara | |
Coordinates: 44°38′N79°13′W / 44.633°N 79.217°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Ontario |
County | Simcoe |
Incorporated | 1994 |
Government | |
• Mayor | Basil Clarke |
• MPs | Adam Chambers |
• MPPs | Jill Dunlop |
Area | |
• Total | 418.82 km2 (161.71 sq mi) |
Population (2016) | |
• Total | 9,488 |
• Density | 22.7/km2 (59/sq mi) |
[1] | |
Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
Area code(s) | 705, 249 |
Website | www |
Ramara is a lower-tier township municipality in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada.
Ramara was formed in 1994 through the amalgamation of the townships of Rama and Mara. The municipality stretches along the northeastern shore of Lake Simcoe from Gamebridge to Orillia, and along the entire eastern shore of Lake Couchiching from Orillia to Washago. Farming, tourism and aggregate are the primary industries, and are supported by a wide variety of local enterprises. The area is perhaps best known for its proximity to Casino Rama, which is actually located on the neighbouring First Nations reserve of Chippewas of Mnjikaning First Nation in Rama.
The township comprises the communities of Atherley, Bayshore Village, Bayview Beach, Bonnie Beach, Brechin, Brechin Beach, Brechin Point, Concord Point, Cooper's Falls, Fawkham, Floral Park, Fountain Beach, Gamebridge, Gamebridge Beach, Geneva Park, Glenrest Beach, Grays Bay, Hopkins Bay, Joyland Beach, Lagoon City, Lakeview Beach, Little Falls, Longford Mills, Mara Beach, Mariposa Beach, McDonald Beach, Millington (ghost town), Murphy Beach, New Gamebridge Beach, Oaklawn Beach, O'Connell, Orkney Point, Orkney Beach, Paradise Point, Point of Mara Beach, Prophet Beach, Ramona, Rathburn, Riverside Beach, Sandy Beach, Sandy Pine Beach, Southview Cove, Talbot, Tanglewood Beach, Udney, Uptergrove, and Val Harbour.
Brechin is one of the township's largest communities. It is known for its several local businesses such as a new Tim Hortons and a Statue Store. The town has all the necessities of a small town, such as a Foodland, LCBO, Legion, both a Shell and a nearby Esso, as well as schools and churches. The town is also a central meeting location for the area's youth where they partake in numerous recreational activity involving the town's proximity to the lake.
The Township of Ramara owns and operates the Ramara Centre, located at 5482 Highway 12, between Atherley and Uptergrove. The Township of Ramara also owns community centres in Longford, Udney and Brechin that are operated by Community Centre Boards of Management which are composed of volunteers.
There are three fire halls in the Township. Fire Hall #1 is located at 3290 County Road 47, Brechin at the corner of County Rd. 47 & Hwy. 12. Fire Hall #2 is located at 85 Patricia Drive, Atherley at the corner of Patricia Drive & Balsam Rd. Fire Hall #3 is located at 7305 Simcoe County Rd. 169, Washago at County Rd #169 & Switch Road.
The Ontario Lumberjack Championships were held at the Brechin Ball Park on the second Saturday in June in 2012, 2013 and 2014.[ citation needed ]
The Canadian rock band, Floral Park, takes its name from the Floral Park community in which one of the band's members grew up.
Located off from Sandy Beach, Goffatt Island is a privately owned 11.10 acres island in Lake Simcoe. [2]
The former townships of Rama and Mara were first named in 1820. The origins of the names are unclear, as both may be either Spanish words (rama for "branch" and mara for "sea") or Biblical references (rama for Ramah, the biblical town of Benjamin in ancient Israel, and mara for Marah, named in the biblical Book of Exodus as the place where Moses sweetened the bitter waters for the Israelites.) As both styles of place naming were popular in Ontario at the time, it is not clear which one Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland had in mind. Being British, the names likely originated from the Ramayana, an ancient Sanskrit text. Rama (Ramachandra), is a major deity of Hinduism. He is the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu. Mara is a Sanskrit word meaning "death" or any personification thereof. In Hinduism, Mara is the goddess of death.
The townships were originally part of York County, but were transferred to Ontario County when they were first incorporated as an amalgamated municipality in 1852. They were later reincorporated as separate municipalities in 1869.
A portion of Rama Township was allocated to form what became the Mnjikaning First Nation 32 Indian reserve of the Chippewas of Mnjikaning First Nation. Many Indigenous people were living on the narrow strip of land that separates lakes Simcoe and Couchiching between Atherley and Orillia. These lands were surrendered by treaty in 1836. After that time, the local Indian Agent began purchasing lands in Rama Township and the Indigenous people were resettled there. The main settlement on the reserve is also known as Rama and is the site of Casino Rama.
North of Rama, the community of Longford Mills was established in 1868. In 1867 American lumberman Henry W. Sage had purchased blocks of land in Rama Township after buying timber berths in Oakley Township in Muskoka District. Sage had considered relocating his mill from Bell Ewart to a point between the Black River and Lake Couchiching, or possibly at Wasdell Falls. This area lacked rail transport, so the sawn lumber would have to be barged to the Northern Railway at Bell Ewart. Instead, Sage came up with the idea of a canal to float logs from the Black River to supply the mills of Lake Simcoe. The Rama Timber Transport Company was formed in 1868. Not only did it allow the logs of Muskoka and Victoria reach the mills of Lake Simcoe, but helped establish the community of Longford Mills.
Ontario County was dissolved upon the formation of the Regional Municipality of Durham in 1974, and both townships were transferred to Simcoe County. As part of the municipal restructuring of Simcoe County, Mara and Rama Townships were reamalgamated to form Ramara in 1994.
Washago station, located in the neighbouring township of Severn, is served by Via Rail's weekly Canadian transcontinental service between Toronto and Vancouver. The station was also formerly a stop on the Ontario Northland Railway's Northlander service.
The gingerbread style Atherley Junction station was built by the Grand Trunk Railway in what is now Ramara in 1897, [3] but it was destroyed by a fire in 1931. [4] It was likely rebuilt after 1931 by Canadian National Railway, and now the structure is now located at Couchiching Beach Park in Orillia, Ontario. [5]
There is bus service from Toronto to Washago operated by Ontario Northland Motor Coach Services. As well, there is extensive charter bus service to Casino Rama.
Ontario Highway 12 (Trans Canada Highway) is a main connecting road between Ontario Highway 169 and Rama Road (Simcoe County Road 44).
The closest airport is Lake Simcoe Regional Airport located between Barrie, Ontario and Orillia, and the closest major airport is Toronto Pearson Airport, via Highway 12 and Highway 400.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Ramara had a population of 10,377 living in 4,408 of its 6,166 total private dwellings, a change of 9.4% from its 2016 population of 9,488. With a land area of 414.94 km2 (160.21 sq mi), it had a population density of 25.0/km2 (64.8/sq mi) in 2021. [6]
Orillia is a city in Ontario, Canada, about 30 km north-east of Barrie in Simcoe County. It is located at the confluence of 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 2021 was 33,411.
Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly in the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century the lake was called Ouentironk by the native Wendat/Ouendat (Huron) people. It was also known as Lake Taronto until it was renamed by John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, in memory of his father, Captain John Simcoe of the Royal Navy. In Anishinaabemowin, the ancestral language of the First Nations living around this lake, namely Anishinaabek of Rama and Georgina Island First Nations, Lake Simcoe is called Zhooniyaang-zaaga'igan, meaning "Silver Lake".
Brock is a township in the Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario, Canada. Brock Township is also a former municipality and geographic township prior to the amalgamation that formed the current municipality.
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.
Oro-Medonte is a township in south-central Ontario, Canada, on the northwestern shores of Lake Simcoe in Simcoe County.
Severn is a township in south-central Ontario, Canada, located between Lake Couchiching, and the Severn River in Simcoe County.
Simcoe North is a federal electoral district in central Ontario, Canada. It was established as a federal riding in 1867.
Black River may refer to several rivers by that name in the province of Ontario, Canada:
Lake Couchiching, from the Ojibwe gojijiing meaning "inlet", is a medium-sized lake in Central Ontario, Canada, separated from Lake Simcoe by a narrow channel.
Ontario County was the name of two historic counties in the Canadian province of Ontario. Both counties were located in approximately the same area and existed on-and-off between 1792 and 1974. Their primary modern successor is the Regional Municipality of Durham, though certain parts of them were transferred to other surrounding regions.
Cooper's Falls is a Dispersed rural community and unincorporated place in geographic Rama Township in the municipality of Ramara, Simcoe County, in Central Ontario, Canada. The community is located at the eponymous Coopers Falls waterfall on the Black River, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northeast of the community of Washago on Ontario Highway 11, and is named after Thomas Cooper, the first settler. There are a few families living in Coopers Falls.
Severn Bridge is a small community in the Town of Gravenhurst, of the District of Muskoka in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is located approximately 160 kilometres north of Toronto, on the Severn River, roughly halfway between Orillia and Gravenhurst. Its population was around 300 in 1992. It was founded in the nineteenth century. The village is served by important road, rail, water links and its postal services and rural route are handled in Washago, Ontario.
King's Highway 12, commonly referred to as Highway 12 and historically known as the Whitby and Sturgeon Bay Road, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The highway connects the eastern end of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) with Kawartha Lakes, Orillia and Midland before ending at Highway 93. It forms the Central Ontario Route of the Trans-Canada Highway system from north of Sunderland to Coldwater. Highway 12 connects several small towns along its 146 km (91 mi) route, and bypasses a short distance from many others. It is signed as a north–south route between Whitby and Orillia, and as an east–west route from there to Midland. The rural portions of the highway feature a posted speed limit of 80 km/h (50 mph), often dropping to 50 km/h (31 mph) through built-up areas. The entire route is patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police.
Chippewas of Rama First Nation, also known as Chippewas of Mnjikaning and Chippewas of Rama Mnjikaning First Nation, is an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) First Nation located in the province of Ontario in Canada. The name Mnjikaning, or fully vocalized as Minjikaning, refers to the fishing weirs at Atherley Narrows between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching and it means "in/on/at or near the fence".
King's Highway 169, commonly referred to as Highway 169, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The highway connected Highway 12 at Brechin, southeast of Orillia, with Highway 69 at Foot's Bay. The 91.40 km (56.79 mi) route included an 18.20 km (11.31 mi) concurrency with Highway 11 between Washago and Gravenhurst. Located within Simcoe County and the District Municipality of Muskoka, the highway also provided access to the community of Bala.
The Mnjikaning Fish Weirs are one of the oldest human developments in Canada. These fishing weirs were built by the first nations people well before recorded history, dating to around 4500 BP during the Archaic period in North America, according to carbon dating done on some of the wooden remnants. The weirs were built in the narrows between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe, now known as Atherley Narrows, over which Ontario Highway 12 passes today. They were preserved by the water and layers of protective silt.
The CN Newmarket Subdivision is a rail line in Ontario operated by Canadian National Railway (CNR). The original route runs northward from just west of Union Station in downtown Toronto, ending just south of North Bay. A short portion between Allandale in Barrie and Longford outside Orillia was lifted in 1996, and the southern section sold off in parts to Metrolinx. Metrolinx operates the southern section as their Barrie line, while CN continues to operate the northern section from Longford to North Bay. The severed northern section was never renamed, despite it no longer running through its namesake town. Access to Toronto is currently via the Bala Subdivision at Washago Junction, a short distance north of the remaining section's southern terminus, which is now used as a spur serving industries.
The Atherley Narrows Swing Bridge is a Canadian National rail bridge located at the confluence of Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching at the Atherley Narrows, near Orillia, Ontario.
The Black River is a river in Simcoe County, the District Municipality of Muskoka, the City of Kawartha Lakes, and Haliburton County in Central Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Great Lakes Basin, and is a right tributary of the Severn River.
Simcoe County LINX is a public transport service managed by Simcoe County and operated by First Student Canada, which is responsible for inter-community regional bus service throughout Simcoe County, connecting rural towns and townships to cities in the county such as Barrie and Orillia. Service began in 2018 with a single trial route, operating with a mixed fleet of low-floor midibuses and accessible paratransit vehicles. In August 2019, service was expanded to four routes, five routes in 2020 and six routes in August 2021.