Heritage Designations

AREAS OF NATURAL AND SCIENTIFIC INTEREST

Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSIs) are areas of land and water containing natural landscapes or features which have been identified as having values related to protection, natural heritage appreciation, scientific study or education.

1. NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF NATURAL AND SCIENTIFIC INTEREST

Sandbanks Provincial Park (Sandbanks Coastal Sand Bar Dunes and Outlet Beach Sector are two distinct natural areas)

The following areas are significant and recognized natural areas, but are on privately owned land and the rights of the property owners need to be respected.

Huffs Island Coastal Wetland
Lost Lake Basin and Escarpment Forests
The Big Swamp
Fish Lake Wetlands

3. REGIONALLY SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF NATURAL AND SCIENTIFIC INTEREST

Timber Island Provincial Nature Reserve
Ameliasburgh Gneissic Inlier (The original Mountain of Mountain View), PRIVATE LAND
Lake on the Mountain Provincial Park

The following areas are regionally significant and are recognized as such in the Prince Edward County Official Plan, but as they are on private land, the rights of the property owners need to be respected.

Bloomfield Creek Wetland
Big Island Coastal Wetland
Cape Vessy Escarpment Cliffs and Coastal Wetland
McMahon Bluff Escarpment Forests
North Ameliasburgh Escarpment Valley
Macaulay Mountain Escarpment Forests
South Albury Swamp
The Little Swamp
Black Creek Valley Marshes and Forest

Big Island Marsh

The following significant wetlands are recognized in the Prince Edward County Official Plan, but it must be noted that they are on privately owned lands where public access is not available and the rights of the owners should be respected.

Consecon Lake Marsh
Pleasant Bay
Huycks Bay
Albury Swamp
Wellers Bay Wetland
Sauguin Creek Marsh
Cressy Swamp
Fish Lake Wetland Complex
West Lake
Salmon Point
Big Swamp/Little Swamp Complex
South Bay Marsh
Big Sand Bay
North Shore East Lake

Lake on the Mountain Swamp

The following significant wetlands are recognized in the Prince Edward County Official Plan, but it must be noted that they are on privately owned lands where public access is not available and the rights of the owners should be respected.

Lost Lake Swamp
Waupoos Creek Swamp
Bloomfield Creek
Slab Creek
Consecon Creek Swamp
Soup Harbour
Hubbs Creek Swamp
Black River Swamp

1. Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada Designations: Prince Edward County

Carrying Place: On October 16, 1934, the HSMB erected a cairn to commemorate the signing of the Gunshot Treaty, on the spot where the Great Portage crosses Highway #33.

"The Historic Carrying Place - Here 23^rd September, 1787, Sir John Johnson concluded the treaty with chiefs of the Mississauga Indians, by which they ceded to the Crown, lands extending westward from the Bay of Quinte to Etobicoke River and northward from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe and Rice Lake."

Established in 1668 by two Sulpician priests to serve the Iroquois bands migrating to the north shore of Lake Ontario, the Kente Mission became, for a time, a significant outpost of French influence in the lower Great Lakes Region. The mission was abandoned in 1680 mainly as a result of the growth of Fort Frontenac. (Located in the park on County Road #29 just west of Highway #33, Consecon)

In the secure harbour at the head of Picton Bay, the community of Hallowell was well established early in the nineteenth century as a shipping and distribution centre for the peninsula. In 1837 it was amalgamated with the adjacent community of Picton. (Located in Queen Elizabeth Park, Hill and Bay Streets, Picton)

A prominent citizen and resident Anglican priest in Picton, Macaulay financed the construction of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene and donated the site of the Prince Edward District court house and jail. (On the grounds of the former Church of St. Mary Magdalene, now part of the Macaulay Heritage Park, Union and Church Streets, Picton)

In 1831 Prince Edward County, which until then had been part of the Midland District, was declared a separate administrative district contingent upon the erection of a court house at Picton. The two storey Greek Revival structure built between 1832 and 1834 is one of Ontario’s oldest public buildings still in use. (On the grounds of the county court house, Union Street, Picton)

Between 1833 and 1835, John A. Macdonald took over the law practice of an ailing cousin in Hallowell (later amalgamated with Picton). During this brief period he gained his first experience in public administration by serving as secretary of the district school board. (In front of the Post Office, Main Street, Picton)

The Conference Church was a simple frame chapel that in 1824 was the site of the first Canada Conference of Methodist churchmen. This conference led to the official separation of the American and Canadian Methodist Churches four years later. Subsequent church buildings on the site have also been the scene of significant conferences. (On the grounds of the Picton United Church, Chapel and Mary Streets, Picton)

A school teacher and devoted mother of a large household, Letitia Youmans became publicly active in temperance reform in 1874 when she organized a Women’s Christian Temperance Union is Picton. She later served as the first president of the WCTU of Ontario, and of the federal organization. (At Glenwood Cemetery where her grave is located, Grove Street Picton)

The first seminary in Canada of the Society of Friends, the West Lake Boarding School was opened as a girls’ school in 1841. A second building to house male students was completed the following year. Remotely situated and inadequately supported, the institution was forced to close in 1865. (Near the former school building, now a private dwelling, Highway #33 just past Mallory Road, about 6 kms west of Picton)

Known familiarly as the "Old Chapel", this simple frame church was built on land donated by Stephen Conger, a Loyalist from New Jersey. It was the first Methodist Church in Prince Edward County and has been maintained as place of worship longer than any other church of Methodist origin in Ontario. (At the church, Highway #49, about 3 kms north of Picton)

A native of Prince Edward County, Roblin moved to Winnipeg at the age of twenty-four and entered provincial politics. During his influential years as Premier of Manitoba (1900-1915), he ardently promoted western grain trade and railway expansion, and made a significant contribution to that province’s economic and social development. (At the former Roblin homestead, Bethesda Road, off County Road #15, about 16 km north of Picton)

Among the early loyalist settlers in Marysburgh Township was a group of about forty disbanded German mercenaries who, by 1784, had begun to clear land and cultivate crops in the vicinity of Waupoos. This was one of the earliest German-speaking settlements in the province. (On the grounds of the Marysburgh Museum, Waupoos Road, off County Road #8, Waupoos)

Prepared by Jim Collinson from material provided by David Taylor, Court Noxon and Ernie Margetson November 19, 1999

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