Odessa, Ontario

Odessa, Ontario
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Odessa,_Ontario".

Loyalist is a township in central eastern Ontario, Canada on Lake Ontario. It is in Lennox and Addington County and consists of two parts: the mainland and Amherst Island. It was named for the United Empire Loyalists, who settled in the area after the American Revolution.

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1 Communities
2 Culture
3 Transportation
4 Demographics
5 External links

Communities

The primary centres of settlement in Loyalist are Amherstview, Bath and Odessa. Smaller communities include Asselstine, Bayview, Emerald, Ernestown, Links Mills, McIntyre, Millhaven, Morven, Nicholsons Point, Stella, Storms Corners, Switzerville, Thorpe, Violet and Wilton.

Amherstview is named for Amherst Island, located directly to the south in Lake Ontario. When the community was first established in the 1950s, the spelling was generally "Amherst View". The community is the eastern end of the Loyalist Parkway, a stretch of Highway 33 that travels along Lake Ontario, in an area in which many United Empire Loyalists settled.

Amherstview is home to Fairfield House which is itself situated in Fairfield Park on the shore of Lake Ontario. Fairfield House was constructed in 1793 by the Fairfield family who were among the first Loyalists to settle the area. It served as the family home and a portion of the building was also used as a tavern for some time. The impressive wood and limestone building is now a museum exhibiting period artifacts and furniture and offering guided tours.

Fairfield Park itself stretches along more than 600 m of Lake Ontario shoreline. The park is a popular picnicking area and is also well used by swimmers and scuba divers. Limestone shelf rock formations leading into the water simplify the launching and landing of kayaks and canoes although suitable facilities for larger watercraft do not exist. The park is home to many species of trees including red oak, poplar, willow, shagbark hickory, ash, maple, cedar, linden, and spruce. Extensive banks of lilac provide flowers and fragrance in season and many of the larger trees in the park are fitted with strings of lights for display at Christmas.

Amherstview is also home to the Henderson Recreation Centre. The Centre houses a public library, a 25 m public swimming pool, and an arena and also includes an outdoor soccer field. The arena is the home rink for the Amherstview Jets hockey team.

Bath was first settled by the United Empire Loyalists in 1783. After the town had been divided up between the families of Hawley, Davy, Rose and Amey, it was John Davy who was first to lay down roads on his lot #10. By 1804 the whole village had been prepared for settlement and surveyed. The village was incorporated in 1859. Every year on July 1 there is a Canada Day celebration featuring a parade and fair. The village was originally named Ernestown, but was renamed Bath in 1819 after the city in England. The town is the location of Millhaven Institution.

Odessa, originally named Millcreek, was renamed by its postmaster to commemorate the British victory at Odessa in Ukraine during the Crimean War. The village is home to Ernestown Secondary School, which services about 650 students from Loyalist Township, Napanee and Stone Mills. The highest point in the village is the water tower. Visible for several kilometres in all directions, the water tower has been outfitted as a wireless communications facility.

Stella and Emerald are located on Amherst Island.

Culture

The Tragically Hip have a recording studio located in Bath called The Bathouse Recording Studio. The band's lead singer, Gordon Downie, was born and raised in Amherstview and attended school in Odessa.

A community radio station, CJAI-FM, broadcasts from Stella. The township is otherwise served by media from Kingston.