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Day Away
Lovely Morrisburg
WHERE THE SEA INFORMS EVERYTHING
STORY AND PHOTOS BY BARBARA BOTTRIELL
The first thing you notice as you approach Morrisburg is
the softening of the landscape. The trees look greener
and the branches sway gently in the breeze. The fields are
flat and fertile and the scent of the St. Lawrence River is
in the air.
I knew Morrisburg primarily as the home of Upper
Canada Village, a top-notch tourist attraction set in the
1860s that attracts visitors from all over the world. But a
trip to Upper Canada Village is worthy of a visit all on its
own, and I was more interested in seeing what else the
area had to offer.
FROM THE WATERFRONT PARK TO
THE DOWNTOWN
Morrisburg’s waterfront park is a gem not to be missed.
It’s just two or three streets south of the main road
through town, and its wide green lawns, paved pathways,
graceful trees and picnic areas are a wonderful place to
relax as you watch the river slide by. It’s also a great place
to view the big ships coming down the Seaway. For an
even closer look, drive to nearby Mariatown where you
can almost touch the big freighters as they plough
through the water.
Just behind the park runs the old section of Highway 2,
which used to be Morrisburg’s main street before the
Seaway came to town in 1958 and changed everything.
Unlike some of the villages and towns along the banks of
the St. Lawrence, Morrisburg was not lost completely to
the waters that widened the St. Lawrence to create the
new Seaway. But it did lose its old downtown and the first
several rows of its houses and businesses. Many of the
frame houses were moved to other locations, but the
brick buildings were mostly demolished.
Ottawa Page 20 Due West/Due East Magazine • Summer 2008