Heritage Walking Tours

Like many of the communities on the northern shore of the St. Lawrence River, Gananoque was first populated by United Empire Loyalist families. Its’ founder, Joel Stone, came here from Connecticut in 1792.The Gananoque River, named by the Iroquois, provided a location which had the advantage of water transportation. Its’ meaning is “place on the rocks by swift moving water.” By the 1820’s, mills were being built and a port was established on the Gananoque River. Gananoque experienced industrialization and factories were built that supplied bolts, rivets, shovels and carriages. The town was known as the “Birmingham of North America.” Gananoque was also the site of skirmishes, both during the War of 1812 and subsequently during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellions. Buoyed by boatbuilding, factories and mills, the town’s economic boom crested in the 1870’s when the railroad era moved most of the activity further up the river near the site of the Town Hall. The emergence of the St. Lawrence skiff rowing boats signaled the shift towards tourism in the 20th Century as did the popularity of the automobile English version - Heritage walking Tour Comme ce fut le cas pour un grand nombre de communautés sur la rive nord dufleuve Saint-Laurent, ce sont des familles de Loyalistes de l’Empire-Uni qui ont initialement peuplé Gananoque. Joel Stone, le fondateur, est arrivé du Connecticut en 1792. Nommée par les Iroquois, la rivière Gananoque prête à la ville son nom qui signifie « placé sur des rochers par des eaux au courant rapide ». Gananoque a l’avantage d’être accessible par voie d’eau; plusieurs moulins sont construits en 1820 et un port est aménagé sur la rivière. C’est le début de l’industrialisation de Gananoque; des usines de boulons, de rivets, de pelles et de chariots voient le jour. La ville est reconnue comme la « Birmingham d’Amérique du Nord ». Pendant la guerre de 1812 et les rebellions du Haut-Canada en 1837, Gananoque est le site de nombreuses escarmouches. French Version - Visite à pied sans guide