New, Convenient Gateway To Kawarthas: 407 Extension Just Opened Off Highway 115

There is a new convenient gateway to the Kawarthas, with the opening of the final stretch of Highway 407 and Highway 418. 

Starting on Monday, December 9th, the final phase of this project will be open to drivers, connecting Highway 407 from the new Highway 418 to Highway 35/115. Highway 418 will provide another north/south connection from Highway 407 to Highway 401.

Photo from new 407 extension ribbon cutting courtesy Sandra Dueck, Peterborough Chamber of Commerce

The extension will add 14.2 kilometres to Highway 407, and the new Highway 418 (10 kilometres). This will add more options for commuters and families to travel across the region faster.

”It is an important connector of people and goods to and from Ontario’s largest economy,” says Sandra Dueck, Policy Analyst, The Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce. 

MAP courtesy 407 ETR

"The completion of the Highway 407 East project will connect communities and greatly improve our transportation network in this region," adds Vijay Thanigasalam, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation.

Photo from new 407 extension ribbon cutting courtesy Sandra Dueck, Peterborough Chamber of Commerce

"Connecting Highway 407 to Highway 35/115 will create a vital link between Peterborough and the Greater Toronto Area," says Dave Smith, MPP for Peterborough-Kawartha. "The extension of this highway will help attract jobs and economic growth to this region."

In total, the extended Highway 407 and new Highway 418 will add over 24 km of new highways, benefiting communities across Durham and Peterborough and the Kawarthas.

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An Island Church Called St. Peter's on-the-Rock On Stony Lake Is Stunning

St. Peter’s on-the-Rock is an island church situated on beautiful Stony Lake in the Kawarthas, near Peterborough.

It celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2014—with the first service there taking place in 1914.

St Peter's is a non-denominational church with Sunday services at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. all summer through August 30th. Generations of families who cottage on Stony and nearby Clear Lake have been going there.

The only way to get to it is by boat...

Summer weddings and christenings are also popular there, and it's no wonder. The church is pure serenity...

The church holds up to 225 people.

The view from the church pews is spectacular...

Guests and tourists come from all over on the Trent Severn Waterway to check out this special church where everyone is welcome...

If you can visit this oasis on Lower Stony at some point, do so...

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13 Historical Facts About Indigenous People In Peterborough Area

Peterborough and the Kawarthas has an amazing native history and culture. Thanks to Rosanna Haroutounian for compiling this listicle for us...

Hiawatha church, 1954

1. Peterborough is the native territory of the Anishinaabeg, a group of indigenous people comprised of the Ojibwa, Odawa, Potawatami, Chippewa, Mississauga, Algonquin, and Delaware communities who controlled the Great Lakes Basin since the late 1600s.

2. Before it became known as Peterborough, the area was called Nogojiwanong, Ojibwa for “place at the end of rapids.”

3. The shores of the Odenabe River were a gathering place for indigenous people. Odenabe, or Otonabee, means “river that beats like a heart.”

4. Anishinaabemowin was widely spoken by the indigenous people in the area before indigenous languages and cultural practices were replaced by English and Christianity through the residential school system.

Eagle painting

5. Through the treaties and land claims processes, Hiawatha First Nation, Curve Lake First Nation, Alderville First Nation, and the Mississaugas of Scugog First Nation have been established in the Peterborough area. These nations refer to themselves officially as Mississaugas.

6.  By some accounts, the Mississaugas moved to southern Ontario, including the Peterborough area, from their homeland north of Lake Huron at the start of the 1700s. According to Curve Lake First Nation, however, the Mississaugas were originally from the Peterborough area. They migrated to the Mississauga River at the North shore of Lake Huron in the mid 1600s. They lived there temporarily to avoid disease and conflict resulting from British and French competition over the fur trade.

7. When Elsie Knott became chief of Curve Lake First Nation in 1954, she became the first Anishnaabe Kwe O’gimaa, or Native Female Chief, in Canada.

8. The first Mission House in Peterborough County was built at Rice Lake, present-day Hiawatha First Nation, in 1823. The Mission house, or church, was Methodist. It became Hiawatha United between 1925 and 1929.

Hiawatha Community Hall, 1954

9. Nathan Baggs, the first Methodist Missionary in Western Ontario, baptized Chief Paudash and most of his band at present-day Hiawatha First Nation in about 1820.

10. When Trent University established the Indian-Eskimo Studies Program in 1969, it became the first university in North America to have a department dedicated to the study of Aboriginal people. The program became the Department of Native Studies in 1972, leading the way for other native studies programs in Canada.

Hiawatha school, 1954

11. In 1978, Trent became the first Canadian university to establish a four-year Indigenous Studies Bachelor of Arts honours program, and in 1986, the Department of Native Studies at Trent worked with the Trent Frost Centre for Native Studies and Canadian Studies to develop the first Master of Arts program in Native Studies.

12. The first Native Studies PhD program in Canada was launched at Trent University in 1997. Its first graduates were awarded PhDs in 2005. In 2006, the Department of Native Studies changed its name to Indigenous Studies.

13. As part of the new four-year indigenous studies program, courses in the Anishnaabe and Mohawk languages were offered for the first time at a Canadian university. Trent University hired elders as course instructors to teach language and indigenous culture courses.

—guest post by Rosanna Haroutounian

[photos via hiawathafirstnation.com]

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Cycle Tourism Signage Program & Digital Route Mapping To Launch In Peterborough & Kawarthas

Photo courtesy Sean Arruda (via Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism)

Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism, part of Peterborough Economic Development, and Shimano Canada have partnered to create a new, marketable cycle tourism product. The multi-phase project will focus on a series of varied length cycling routes joining the County of Peterborough and the City of Peterborough through a regional cycling signage program and digital route mapping. These permanently sign-posted routes will take riders off of the beaten path, and introduce them to the best roads our region has to offer. The routes utilize scenic country roads throughout the County and tie into a number of trail systems in the City of Peterborough to highlight popular routes which are enjoyed by many of the area’s passionate local cyclists, but are yet to be discovered by visitors to the area—as cycle tourism contines to grow in popularity.

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Peterborough & The Kawarthas Tourism Video On Winter Fun

[YouTube; TheKawarthas.ca]

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Sightings: The Bears Aren't Coming To Us, We're Going To The Bears

[CHEX Newswatch]

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Workshop on Invasive Plant Species in the Kawarthas

Lakeland Alliance's Sue Prentice talks about the Dog-Strangling VineSue Prentice of the Lakeland Alliance lead an informative workshop, "Alien Invaders: Invasive Plant Species in Cottage Country", at Ecology Park on Sunday.

Invasive plants species are usually ornamental plants that have been moved from their native habitat to a new area such as our local gardens. Due to their aggressive behaviour, they will overtake local plants and can cause economic, environmental, social or cultural damage.

Plants that have been found locally include the Common and Glossy Buckthorn, the Dog-Strangling Vine, The Norway Maple and recently brought to the spotlight, the Giant Hogweed.

Due to the 2009 Ontario cosmetic pesticides ban, we can't combat the plants with harmful toxins. But Sue Prentice gave suggestions on other methods of cutting them back (for example, being careful about what plants you put in your garden in the first place) and using something called soil solarization to prevent them from bothering you again. —Evan Holt

[Related: The Green Update: Invasive Species]

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