Port Stanley, Ontario

On arrival in Port Stanley, we stayed at the Inn on the Harbour, which was centrally located on Main Street, right next to the harbour as its name suggested.  Each of the rooms is named and decorated after a theme,  such as Maritime Memories, Oriental, Leopard or French Provincial.   Our room was the Safari Club and had a great view of the water and the King George VI lift bridge which is raised every half an hour to allow larger boats to pass between Lake Erie and Kettle Creek.

The pretty harbour is lined by shops, restaurants and inns on one side, and a long boardwalk on the other which provided a walking or cycling path to the main beach.  Port Stanley also has a smaller beach on the other side of town.

We took a self-guided walking tour of the historic buildings that still stand in Port Stanley.  The beautiful yellow-bricked Victorian mansion built in 1873 by  telegraph/telephone operator and first postmaster Manual Payne, is now a bed and breakfast called Telegraph House.  The red-bricked clothing store called Russell House has retained its original name, and was originally one of the first hotels in Port Stanley.  A pine-planked clothing store is housed in the oldest building on the tour.  It was originally the livery, then a candy shop and was even used as the village hall.   Built in 1854, the beautiful home that is now the Windjammer Inn is also named as a tribute to its original owner Sam Shepard, who was known for his fleet of windjammer ships.  Shepard used to give a top hat to the captain of the first boat to arrive in Port Stanley harbour each spring.  The tradition is still continued today.

A small museum recalls the presence of large dance halls and a Coney Island style amusement park on Port Stanley Beach from the early 1900s until almost 1980.  In its heyday, the L&PS Dance Pavilion, later renamed The Stork Club, would host all the popular big bands of the time, including as Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra. The band played on an elevated hanging above the dance floor.  Dancers would buy tickets at a cost of 5 cents each per dance and would line up to access the dance floor–this was called a jitney dance.  The Stork Club burned down in 1979 but a small fair ground still seems to be operating today.

Originally run as a restaurant called the Garden Inn back in 1918, the Kettle Creek Inn was renovated and reopened in the early 1980s with a lovely outdoor patio in the back.  The menu prominently features the perch and pickerel that is plentiful in this area.  As a starter, you can order as many breaded perch fillets as you want, served with homemade tartar sauce, or go for perch nachos.  For the main course, there is both a perch dinner and a pickerel dinner available.

The Jackson Fish Market sells freshly caught, in-season fish including yellow and white perch, yellow pickerel, whitefish, bass, and lake catfish.   The Jackson family has operated a commercial fishery for generations and their motto is "Fresh Fish from Our Boats to Your Table."  We were able to attest to this as we witnessed the workers carving up the day's catch.  We were able to purchase two large packages of pickerel cheeks to bring home as a delicacy for less than $15.

A huge mural on the storefront depicts the 1902 rescue of the crew of a schooner which ran aground in Port Stanley harbour during a vicious gale storm.  Across the street from the market sits a cork kiln, built in 1915 for drying the cork used for floating fish nets.

We saw a wonderful show at the Port Stanley Theatre during our visit.  A new musical comedy called "Not in My Backyard" depicts a young couple's struggle to start up a community vegetable garden amidst opposition from their vocal neighbour and the town mayor.  Scheming and dirty politics lead to some hilarious songs.  We were impressed by the quality of the singing and acting by the entire cast, in what we thought was a little local show in a small town.  Reading the credits of the cast, we realized that they were all professionals who had roles in the past with Shaw or Stratford or other theatres. 

One of the highlights of our stay in Port Stanley was the hour-long scenic train ride that we took en route to neighbouring St. Thomas and back.  We rode in specially modified open-air train cars from the 1920s, which were pulled by a diesel locomotive from the early 1950s.  The conductor also acted as the tour guide, giving us history about the railway and the surrounding area.

Part of the ride included a stop that allowed us to get up close and personal with a 1929 snow plow, a restored CN caboose and a circus car.  I sat in the seat of the snow plow and looked out the window.  It was a good thing there was no need to steer this beast.  I also climbed up to the top seat in the caboose and realized that the engineers must have had strong arms and legs to haul themselves up there on a regular basis.

There does not seem to be good cycling trails around Port Stanley compared to what we found in Port Dover.  The cycling "path" to St. Thomas is alongside traffic on a lightly used county road.  The Elgin Hiking trail is supposed to start at the main beach in Port Stanley and continue north for 41km.  We searched for the trail for a while but were unable to find it and none of the locals seemed to know about it.  We may try again on our next visit.

Road Trip Enroute to Port Stanley

Along the Northern shores of Lake Erie are a series of port towns, each with its own unique charm and attractions.  We spent a weekend in Port Dover a few years back and enjoyed good biking and theatre there.  On this trip, we traveled further west along the scenic Waterfront trail, following the shoreline of Lake Erie, en route to Port Stanley for an overnight stay.

Our first stop was in Port Burwell, where the Canadian submarine HMCS Ojibwa has found a permanent home.  The submarine is open for tours and will become the main attraction for a museum of naval history that is being built in the community.  We were on a tight schedule and did not have time to take the tour, but plan to return once the museum is completed.  But it was really cool to turn the corner in this small little village and come face to face with a submarine!

At Port Bruce, we noticed people fishing off the pier, both with fishing rods and big nets.  The area is known for walleye, perch, steelhead trout and pike.  The beach has soft, fine-grained sand and warm shallow water by the shoreline, that turns into multiple shades of beautiful glimmering blue as you look into the horizon.  We marveled at how quiet the beaches are in this region, in compared to Wasaga Beach or other beaches further north.  Or maybe it was just because we were there on a weekday.

In Sparta, the novelty shop called Winter Wheat sold home accessories and nick-knacks.  The greater attraction though was the beautiful woodlands on which the building sat, and the fabulous full-sized garden sculptures that were nestled throughout.  It was like a wonderland, wandering down each path and encountering the next whimsical surprise.

Sparta House Tearoom offers high tea which is served with pastries and finger sandwiches, and cream tea, served with scones, cream and jam, although the cream offered is whipping cream as opposed to the traditional clotted cream.  The tea room boasts an impressive collection of novelty tea pots of all types of shapes, sizes and themes.  There are hundreds of teapots shaped like animals such as cats, dogs, cows, characters like Mother Goose, Miss Piggy, Sherlock Holmes, Henry VIII, Christmas themes, English cottages and much more.

From Sparta, it was a mere 15 minute drive to our final destination of Port Stanley, where we planned an overnight visit.

Cobourg and Port Hope, Ontario

Along the Northern shores of Lake Ontario, the pretty little towns of Port Hope and Cobourg, Ontario are great places to visit for a day trip, at just over an hour's drive from midtown Toronto.

The Cobourg Farmer's Market, which runs Saturdays from 7am-1pm, is one of the oldest markets in Ontario, running  every Saturday morning since 1839. It offers fresh organic fruits and vegetables, baked goods, meats, cheese and condiments.  Across from the market, the bakery Millstone Bread sells artisan breads of a range of interesting flavours including buttermilk seed, sultana and roasted hazelnut, date pecan, chocolate cherry brandy and more.  We bought the most delicious cheese loaf made with white cheddar, roasted garlic and chives that left us wanting to return for more.

We were lucky enough to receive a comprehensive tour of Cobourg's city hall, which is named after Queen Victoria.  In addition to government offices, Victoria Hall also houses the Art Gallery of Northumberland and a concert hall.  The highlight is the beautiful courtroom decorated in London's Old Bailey style with the box where the accused stood to face the judge.  Viewing this room made us feel like we were in an episode of Rumpole, or the movie Witness for the Prosecution.  The grand hall on the second floor had huge windows that were both real and trompe-l'oeil, and was decked out for a wedding reception that evening.  It was amusing to see that the party favour was a pack of chewing gum.

In addition to Victoria Hall, Cobourg's main street hosted many interesting shops, art galleries, antique stores and eateries.  The British Pantry specialized in items from England, including a cake that looked just like a big empire cookie (which they also sold).  And standing prominently by the curb was a full-sized "Businessman" sculpture by my favourite sculptor, William McElcheran.

Cobourg's harbourfront is a bustling area with a large marina and long piers where summer festivals are held.  We spotted a tall ship docked by one of the piers, with teenaged crew members swabbing the decks and sitting precariously high up on the crossbars of the mast. They were trainees on two week stints to learn the joys of sailing.  We found several beaches in town, some packed with sunbathers and swimmers, while others were deserted and perfect for a quiet stroll along the water's edge.

An unexpected find was the Ecology garden located just off the main drag, which was designed to promote the principles of organic gardening.  Wandering through the paths of the garden, you come across beautiful flowers and plants, butterflies, birds and other wildlife, gazebos, swinging seats and a vegetable and herb garden.  Garden tours, plant sales and other events are held throughout the year.

There was so much to see in Cobourg that we didn't even have time to visit their historical society museum, take the town tour, visit the Art Gallery of Northumerland or see a show at the concert hall... these will all have to wait until our next visit.

Onward we went to Port Hope, which is just a few minutes west of Cobourg.  One of the first things you encounter in Port Hope is the Ganaraska River racing through the middle of the town.  The locals seem to take advantage of this natural feature for some body surfing and suntanning.  A street festival was in full swing when we arrived, complete with break dancers, clowns, balloons, free popcorn, and community drives raising money for the fire department and other local organizations.

Like Cobourg, Port Hope's main street is filled with restaurants, antiques and other specialty stores.   I particularly liked the store Hinchcliff and Lee which had multiple rooms of colourful and decorative Asian furnishings and art.  There was a bird cage made of bamboo which was deceptively light since it was painted to look like metal.  Chests and wardrobes had intricate carvings on the doors and hidden compartments inside.  For lunch, we went to Queenie's Bakery which served sandwich and salad combos including a delicious pork schnitzel on rye and a salmon salad croissant.

The vintage-looking Capitol Theatre is touted as the last restored atmospheric theatre with a ceiling designed to give the illusion of open sky.  The play being staged was Kim's Convenience which has recently had several sold-out stints as part of Toronto's Soul Pepper theatre group's repertoire.  For such a small town, Port Hope seems like an impressively happening place.

One of Port Hope's main attractions is just on the outskirts of town.  Primitive Designs is the quirkiest souvenir/gift/novelty store in the area, selling wacky artifacts that make you wonder where they get this stuff.  The multi-roomed store and grounds are overflowing with sculptures of cross-legged monkeys giving the finger, African warlord talking sticks, huge wooden sculptures of elephants and Pegasus, ship models, pink flamingos and more.  I'm not sure you would want to take any of these items home with you, but it certainly is fun to browse.