Category: Cultural Heritage

What makes the Great Lakes so great?

In today’s blog, Discovery Project Program Coordinator Jessica Stillman reflects on our mutual relationship with the Great Lakes.

Our human history is reflected in their waters.

The Great Lakes capture our past, influence our present, and inspire our future. 

Imagine the stories they could tell.

These bodies of water are called the Great Lakes for a reason: from their size (the largest surface freshwater system on Earth) to their role in our collective history, where do we even begin to share what makes them great?

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Step back in time at the Silver Queen Mine open house

Today’s post comes from the Wandering Wagars, an adventure-loving family travelling the globe.

A great attraction can transport you into another world.

But the staff at Murphys Point Provincial Park took things in a different direction, and ended up taking us back in time.

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Chugging along the tracks of time

Today’s post comes from Kelila Seymour, a Discovery Leader at Neys Provincial Park.

While some parks can boast a connection with the Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR), few parks are “tied” to the railroad as closely as Neys!

Maybe you’ve driven across the tracks when you’ve entered the park, heard the whistle blow as you curl up around an evening fire, or had the chance to paddle under the trussel bridge that spans the Little Pic River.

Surrounding Neys, you are reminded of the CPR and its historical significance to the park and to Canada.

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Paddle like it’s 1796 at Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park!

We are excited to bring back the Voyageur Adventure Tour to Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park this summer!

Experience the life of a voyageur at the height of the fur trade by paddling a voyageur canoe on the beautiful Mattawa River.

Our knowledgeable guides will help you discover part of our Canadian heritage.

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“Gathering” at Rondeau

Today’s post comes from Jess Matthews, a Chief Park Naturalist at Rondeau Provincial Park.

A change was needed at the Rondeau Visitor Centre and we wanted it to be big.

We worked with three different local Indigenous communities over five years to generate something amazing.

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Adventure Lab: are you ready for an adventure?

Ontario Parks is pleased to unveil a new outdoor activity that we hope will help connect you and your family to our amazing system of parks!

We’ve teamed up with Adventure Lab to create seven unique “Adventures” that teach you about our protected spaces!

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Stories in the stars / Pride in our hearts

Today’s post comes from Will Morin, Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Sudbury and Bruce Waters, former educator at the McLaughlin Planetarium and founder of the Killarney Provincial Park Observatory.

It’s time we learn the astronomical traditions of the diverse Indigenous cultures in the Americas.

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A look back on Ontario Parks’ outhouses

We called on Ontario Parks Architect Matthew Harvey to provide some insight on outhouses…the good, the bad, and the stinky!

In the course of my 25 year architectural career with Ontario Parks, I occasionally get asked what I do for a living. I proudly reply “Why, I design outhouses!”

If that person doesn’t excuse themselves, turn on their heel and beat a hasty retreat, then we might get down to a discussion that goes something like this:

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Where can a paddle take you?

In today’s post, Rondeau Provincial Park‘s Chief Park Naturalist Jess Matthews takes us back in time…

There may be a time when you used your paddle to get through white caps. At other times, it leisurely pulled you over still wetlands.

They are a lifeline. Solid, reliable; something that won’t break down on whatever journey you may be on.

But what if we told you that a paddle can also take you through time to the very beginning of the provincial park system? A time when the only two superintendents in Ontario Parks were 600 km away from each other, and correspondence was mainly though letters.

Just two paddles are the tangible pieces of history that connects Algonquin Provincial Park and Rondeau Provincial Park through a story of beginnings, friendships, and marriage.

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