Road map Ottawa River city surrounding area (Ontario, Canada)

In 1615, Samuel de Champlain traveled up the Ottawa River and  down the Mattawa to Lake Nipissing, then navigated the French River to  Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, opening up Canada's great waterway to the  West. Today travelers can follow de Champlain's fur-trade route along  Highway 17, which parallels the Ottawa River. South of the Ottawa-which  divides the rich farmland to the south from the mineral-rich Canadian  Shield to the north-is Algonquin Provincial Park, the heart of this  rugged wilderness region and hugely popular as a camping, canoeing, and  vacation area.      

Algonquin Provincial Park [B2-B5] Ontario's oldest and most  famous park is a paradise for canoeists and campers with hundreds of  beautiful lakes and 1,500 km of well-marked canoe routes. Algonquin's  7,725 km2 of forests, lakes, and rivers have inspired more than 60  books, over 1,800 scientific papers, and the timeless paintings of Tom  Thomson. The Parkway Corridor, a 56 km stretch of Hwy 60, allows  visitors access to many of the park's attractions. The Visitor Centre  has an excellent museum featuring exhibits on the park's history, while  the Algonquin Gallery presents wildlife art exhibits featuring paintings  and sculptures. The Logging Museum has a saddleback locomotive and  restorations of loggers' cabins and equipment.      

Bancroft [E5] Its subsoil rich in semiprecious stones, the  area around Bancroft is a rock hound's paradise at the edge of the  Canadian Shield. Eighty percent of the minerals found in Canada can be  found here. Every year Bancroft hosts the four-day Rockhound Gemboree,  attracting thousands of gemstone collectors from around the world for  field trips, visits to abandoned mines, and demonstrations of gem-stone  cutting. Pioneer artifacts are also displayed in the Bancroft Historical  Museum, a log house built in 1857.

Minden [E3] Minden is surrounded by pristine lakes, rolling  forested hills and kilometers of rugged Canadian Shield. Historically,  the village has had to rebuild several times as major fires occurred in  1879, 1890, and 1942. The Agnes Jamieson Gallery features the work of  local and regional artists. Next door is the County Town Museum and  Pioneer Community offering many activities and heritage buildings,  including an 1865 homestead, school house, drive shed, bank, and "wee  kirk," or church. Cottages, lodges, resorts, and golf courses are  scattered throughout the area.      

Pembroke [B6]      

Pembroke celebrates its heritage with an ever growing number  of murals. Now numbering over 20, the murals reveal, among other things,  that Samuel de Champlain was the first European to visit the area (in  1613), that Pembroke was a dynamic logging town in the early 1900s, and  that it was the first town in Canada to have commercial electric street  lights. The Champlain Trail Museum also depicts the history of the  Ottawa Valley with artifacts and pioneer buildings. OThe area south of  Pembroke on the Ottawa River is top-ranked for Whitewater rafting and  kayaking, with many outfitters established along the river. The Ottawa  offers a variety of paddling challenges, from gentle rapids for the  family to intense Whitewater rapids for the professional rafter. (ЭJust  north of Pembroke is the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, site of the  first nuclear reactor built outside the United States. Summer tours  include displays and films on the birthplace of Canada's nuclear program  and a visit to a research reactor.      

Renfrew [C7] Both the town and county of Renfrew were named in  1820 for the town and shire in Scotland-the ancestral seat of the Royal  Stuarts. The McDougall Mill Museum, housed in an 1855 stone gristmill,  exhibits period clothing, wartime souvenirs, military uniforms, and a  collection of pioneer tools, artifacts, and Renfrew memorabilia. Don't  miss Storyland, a 16-hectare park with over 200 fairy-tale characters in  natural settings.      

ATTRACTIONS      

BANCROFT      

Bancroft Mineral      

Museum Bancroft Historical Museum Hastings Heritage Trail      

MINDEN      

Agnes Jamieson Gallery County Town Museum and Pioneer Community Clergy House (1870)      

PEMBROKE      

Champlain Trail Museum Riverside Park      

Pembroke Heritage Murals Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories      

RENFREW      

McDougall Mill Museum Storyland Bonnechere Caves