St. Lawrence River Waterfront Parks

Few Ontario river towns have changed as dramatically as Morrisburg. Until 1958 it sat on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River above a series of rapids, but the St. Lawrence Seaway project raised the water level when the Moses-Saunders Power Dam was built downstream, and the old town and its neighbours were flooded or moved. The event is remembered locally as the Lost Villages, and Morrisburg itself was rebuilt on higher ground. The waterfront it has today is a product of that upheaval.

The parks that now line the shore are modest, green and made for relaxed afternoons. Grassy shoreline spaces and boat launches look across to ships passing in the Seaway, where freighters from the Great Lakes slide by only a few hundred metres offshore. Watching a large vessel pass is a pastime in itself, and locals can often tell you where one is headed. Anglers fish for bass and walleye from the banks, and paddlers and boaters launch from the marinas. Crysler Park Marina, close to the village, is the main hub for boating.

The district was first settled by United Empire Loyalists after the American Revolution. The area's best-known attraction is Upper Canada Village, a living-history museum of an 1860s Ontario community, with costumed interpreters, a working mill, farms and trades. Its buildings were rescued from towns flooded by the Seaway and reassembled on the new shoreline, so the museum is as much a monument to the flooding as to the 19th century. The nearby Crysler's Farm Battlefield memorial marks the site of a battle in November 1813, a British and Canadian victory over a much larger American force during the War of 1812. A little further along the highway, the Long Sault Parkway links a chain of islands formed by the flooding, with beaches, camping and cycling paths.

Dinosaur-themed Prehistoric World, an outdoor attraction near the village, adds a lighter note for families. The area is quiet in the off-season, and the best weather for the waterfront comes between late spring and early autumn. Visitors can reach Morrisburg by Highway 401, and it is within a convenient drive of Cornwall and Brockville. Confirm opening times of individual sites before visiting.