What is The Rideau?

 

The Rideau (pronounced “Reed-O”) is many things to many people. It is a superb area for recreation, it’s a wonderful part of our Canadian heritage and it is a celebration of nature.

 

Rideau Falls - The water curtain gave the Rideau its name

Rideau Falls – The water curtain gave the Rideau its name

To answer the initial question, What’s a Rideau?, the word ‘Rideau’ is French for ‘curtain’, the appearance of the falls where the Rideau meets the Ottawa River, to Samuel de Champlain who travelled up the Ottawa River in 1613. The name Rivière du Rideau first appeared on maps in about 1700.

First conceived after the War of 1812, the Rideau Canal was designed to provide a secure supply route from Montreal to Kingston, bypassing the vulnerable St. Lawrence River Route. The Canal, an incredible feat of engineering, was built from 1826-1832 under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers.

 

Rideau Heritage – A Living History

Opening a lock gate by hand

Kids helping canal staff winch open a lock gate

The Rideau Canal Waterway is living history. The locks operate today much as they did when first opened in 1832. You can go to a lock, put your hand on a massive stone that was quarried with human labour, hauled by sledge to the locksite, hewn into a finished shape by stonemasons and lifted by hand cranes into the spot that you see it today. Massive wooden lock gates are opened using hand winches, just as the were when the canal was first built.

The canal, used as a commercial waterway through to the early 1900s, helped to shape local communities. The Rideau Corridor has never lost the quiet pastoral charm of its early history.

 

Rideau Natural Environment

Loon with a pair of chicks on her back

Loon with a pair of chicks on her back

The Rideau is home to a large diversity of wildlife. From ospreys, loons and herons, to turtles, salamanders and frogs, to otters, muskrats and deer, to bass, trout and pickerel, the Rideau provides a wonderful habitat to all. This is in part due to human intervention since the building of the canal in the early part of the 19th century created a slackwater system in which the water levels are strictly controlled.

The Rideau traverses a varied terrain, flat sedimentary plains in the north and south with the rocky exposures of the Canadian Shield in the center. It is this exposure of shield rock that created the beautiful Rideau Lakes. Of the 1,000 plus kilometres of shoreline along the Rideau, a significant portion remains undeveloped, a haven for local wildlife. Conservation areas, provincial parks, and fish and bird sanctuaries provide further protected habitat along the length of the Rideau Canal.

Rideau Recreation

Canoe amid the fall colours on Opinicon Lake

The Rideau is probably best epitomized by the town of Perth’s motto “make haste slowly”. The Rideau is a place to kick back and relax. A leisurely boat trip along the waterway, a scenic tour by car along the Rideau Heritage Route, every turn along the way brings new opportunities to enjoy life. The Rideau Canal is one of Parks Canada’s heritage canals and it is set up to welcome the visitor. In fact all the Rideau welcomes visitors with a wide variety of services; marinas, B&Bs, lodges, hotels, campgrounds, cottages, stores of every variety, restaurants, golf courses, and museums.

The Rideau is also a place of festivals – the Tulip Festival in Ottawa, Canalfest in Merrickville, the Delta Fair, the Perth Garlic Festival, Seeleys Bay’s Frost Fest, the Lyndhurst Turkey Fair, Busker’s Rendezvous in Kingston, Colonel By Day in Ottawa, Rideau Valley Art Festival in Westport, Winterlude in Ottawa, maple syrup festivals up and down the corridor, there is a celebration for every turn of the season.