Once I reached Dalkeith my Tour of Glengarry was over. I am so very glad I decided to explore more of the area. Now it was time to face driving to Ottawa. My first time to Ottawa was from the west to the east. I would now be going from the east to the west so how shall I do this?
I decided to take a little tour of Prescott County which is part of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell: http://www.prescott-russell.on.ca/fr/ http://en.prescott-russell.on.ca/
In the past Prescott was part of Glengarry and Glengarry reached from the St. Lawrence River to the Ottawa River. Prescott was formed in 1800. In 1820 Prescott and Russell were consolidated as explained by the Prescott County Genweb page: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onpresco/
This link is to a great map of Prescott: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onpresco/id11.htm
Here is the Russell County Genweb page: http://web.ncf.ca/de077/HomePage.GENWEB.html
I continued up Hwy #23 and it became Hwy #12 and met up with Hwy #10. I turned west and started to dream of windmills. There were cattle munching and I was thinking dairy land.
Vankleek Hill’s welcome sign
I entered Vankleek Hill and was very surprised to find this lovely town on my route. The gingerbread capital of Ontario! My stomach growled. HA, it was architectural gingerbread not the cake. http://vankleekhill.ca/
I parked my car on the street right across from the Champlain Library. http://www.champlaintwplibrary.ca/ http://bc-cl.ca/ They have a small genealogy and local history collection.
The library in Vankleek Hill
I headed to the Trillium Tea Room. I had been traveling all over Ontario and Quebec and had not had one spot of tea. Ice tea doesn’t count. Well, I sat down and ordered a sandwich and tea and the waitress brought me a cup and saucer and a lovely little white teapot.
Trillium Tea Room
The cafe had a lovely collection of mini teapots and sets.
Only a part of the collection
I had parked my car right next to the Musee Vankleek on Main Street: http://www.vankleek.ca/ This is a great website with all kinds of information and some good links to genealogical treasures.
The historical society
My next destination was Hawkesbury. I had always been curious about it and so I drove up Hwy #34 and it wasn’t that far.
More of Vankleek Hill
I checked out the Hawkesbury Public Library which is on Higginson St.
Hawkesbury’s library
I headed for Main Street and the waterfront to see what it was like and I ended up in the parking lot of this huge catholic church. It was another St. Alphonse Church. I could see another church on John Street but that was on the street to the bridge into Quebec.
St. Alphonse Catholic Church, Hawkesbury
The St. Alphonse Catholic Church was right next door to a restaurant – Tim Horton’s. I wish I had taken a picture of that but I just didn’t. I was getting tired. This website has a picture of the church and gives a little history: http://www.hawkesbury.ca/index.php/en/
http://artbo.net/HikingHealthHistory/hawkesbury.html#52
I drove west on the Main St. of Hawkesbury and was impressed with the amount of activity in the main downtown area. http://www.hawkesbury.ca/maineng.html I really didn’t have time to take photos because of the traffic.
Hwy #4 was actually Main St. W. but it was what I wanted to take to go west. I had planned to follow Hwy#4 to Hwy#24 and drive along the Ottawa River while I headed west to Ottawa. Another name is Front St. W.
“Hello again Ottawa River.”
The Ottawa River west of Hawkesbury
It was a lovely drive. There were mostly houses along the river with big beautiful yards. I sort of got the feeling that not that many tourists visit this area.
More of the Ottawa River
At some point I had to turn south on Hwy #9. It was at this point that I pulled into a very fancy house’s driveway and took a picture of the valley below. I believe you are looking at Plantagenet.
Plantagenet??
At the bottom of the hill I turned on to Hwy #17 and it was on that road all the way to Ottawa. It went through Rockland and when it met up with Hwy #47 or 10th Line Rd. I turned onto Hwy #34 or St. Joseph Blvd. and that became Montreal Rd. This road goes right into Ottawa and becomes Rideau. I was familiar with Rideau having stayed in the Econo-Lodge between Chapel and Augusta on my visit to this city two weeks ago.
I did get stuck in a little bit of traffic on Rideau and Wellington but at least I knew where I was and what I was doing.
My destination was the Albert House Inn on Albert Street before Bronson Ave. I had decided to indulge a little in a B&B on my second visit to Ottawa.
BJ MacDonald
The Man Who Lived Airplanes 