Road map Rideau Valley city surrounding area (Ontario, Canada)

Settlement in the Rideau Valley area began in the 1800s, with  many communities forming around water-powered sawmills and gristmills.  Fragments of the valley's history can be found along the route of the  202-km-long Rideau Canal, built by Col. John By and his Royal Engineers  in 1826. Skilled stonemasons who worked on the canal also left their  mark on the many fine stone buildings found throughout the region. Upper  Canada Village, along the St. Lawrence River, offers an authentic taste  of 19th-century life in the area. This lush region of the St. Lawrence  River valley is also known for its apple farming, and is the home of the  Mcintosh apple.      

Iroquois [E6] Situated on the St. Lawrence, the Iroquois Locks  are famous as one of the best places to view majestic lake-bound ships  ("lakers") and ocean vessels ("salties") from all over the world as they  pass through the seaway. In town is the Carman House Museum, a heritage  home dating from 1815, which depicts family life from that era.      

Kemptville [C3] Named after Sir James Kempt, the  governor-general of Upper and Lower Canada in the 1820s, Kemptville is  the agricultural and natural resource center for Eastern Ontario. The  Kemptville College of Agricultural Technology was established here in  1917, and the G. Howard Ferguson Provincial Forest Station is one of the  province's largest tree nurseries, with annual production at over 7  million trees.      

Manotick [A3] Watson's Mill, located in the Dickinson Square  Conservation Area, is considered one of the finest examples of gristmill  architecture in the province. The three-story limestone building has  been restored to its 1860 operating condition-arid still grinds wheat.  The area also includes Dickinson House (1868), which housed Sir John A.  Macdonald's 1882 campaign headquarters.      

Merrickville [E2]      

Merrickville is one of the oldest settlements along the canal  corridor, and its largest blockhouse houses the Merrickville Blockhouse  Museum. The unique lock station consists of three individual locks  separated by turning basins. Nearby is the Rideau National Migratory  Bird Sanctuary.      

Smiths Falls [E1]      

Smiths Falls is the halfway point on the Rideau Canal between  Ottawa and Kingston. With both hand-operated and electric lock stations,  this is the best place along the entire canal to see how the locks  work. There are many heritage brick and limestone buildings, and a  boating festival in July. Smiths Falls offers a unique passport to visit  its four main attractions:      

Heritage House Museum, Hershey Chocolate Factory, Rideau Canal  Museum, and Smiths Falls Railway Museum. Ш Heritage House Museum is a  restored heritage building with seven period rooms furnished to show the  lifestyle of an upper middle-class family living in Smiths Falls around  1875. The original owner built two mills, a gristmill and woolen mill,  powered by the nearby rapids. SHershey Canada Inc. opened its Smiths  Falls factory-the first outside its native Pennsylvania and the first to  include a visitors gallery—in 1963. It produces approximately 36  million kilograms of chocolate confectionary products per year. SRideau  Canal Museum houses high-tech displays and artifacts about the history  and construction of the canal in a former 19th-century mill. OSmiths  Falls Railway Museum features exhibits in a former Canadian Northern  Railway Station built in 1914. A 1950s diesel locomotive and a 1912  steam locomotive are also displayed, along with rare railway buildings.  Track inspection cars called Wickhams give rides along the tracks around  the museum grounds.      

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Upper Canada Village      

When the St. Lawrence Seaway was built in the late 1950s,  eight villages disappeared or were relocated to higher ground.  Morrisburg was one such community, and the relocation of old buildings  prompted the beginning of Upper Canada Village. Occupying 27 hectares of  Crysler's Farm Battlefield Memorial Park, Upper Canada Village is a  faithful re-creation of an Ontario United Empire Loyalists community.  Homes, churches, mills, a tavern, general store, bakery, cheese factory,  and broom maker are all peopled by costumed interpreters. The village  operates much as it did in the late 1800s, with home deliveries from the  bakery, the iceman making his rounds, and the ring of the blacksmith's  hammer in the air. (Upper Canada Village is so authentically reproduced,  it is often used as a movie set.) The Old Willard Hotel's dining room  serves period meals, while the general store sells village-made crafts  and products. Rides are available on horse-drawn wagons and a boat. A  one-hour cruise on the St. Lawrence is available to explore the "Lost  Villages."