Almost every square inch of Northeastern Ontario has historic significance. Beginning with the legends of the Indigenous people who have long been stewards of this land, to the Voyageurs and their big canoes full of furs paddling up the Mattawa River, from homesteaders and pioneers through the early timber industry, and the booms and busts of mineral and metal mining. Our present-day culture filled with art, festivals, galleries, and epic Canadian history—we're the birthplace of ringette, the Dionne Quintuplets, and even Shania Twain. In Northeastern Ontario, there is a story at every turn in the road (or river, as the case may be).
Turtle Island: Birth of a Continent
Much of the history of Northeastern Ontario, both Indigenous and European, is rooted in the waterways that have always connected people and communities across the region. Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world, is described in some Ojibwe oral traditions as the birthplace of Turtle Island—the origin story of our continent. Artifacts excavated from Sheguiandah Hill, just south of Little Current, are carbon-dated to 10,000 years ago, just after the last ice age. The archeological area was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1954.
Big Canoes: Voyageurs & the Fur Trade
In Northeastern Ontario, the end of a road is always an interesting place to arrive—especially so when it’s Moose Factory which lies 18 kilometres from the mouth of James Bay. The town is only accessible by train (the Polar Bear Express from Cochrane), boat, or ice road. Built by Hudson’s Bay Company in 1673, the community of Moose Factory, originally called Moose Fort, is one of the oldest European settlements in Ontario and the second fur trading post in Canada—the old fur press is still visible on the shores of the Moose River.
Steeped in the mythology of the coureurs du bois, it is an eerily beautiful and remote relic of a bygone era. Built in 1847-50, the HBC Staff House is the last surviving fur trade officer’s dwelling in Canada and the oldest building in the James Bay area. The Moose Factory Buildings were formally designated a historic site in 1977.
Further to the south, Mattawa, where the Ottawa and Mattawa rivers meet, is the oldest European settlement in the Nipissing District. A geographic hub for the fur trade, Mattawa has an extensive network of historic canoe and portage trails. Of historical significance are three crosses on Quebec Hill, said to have been erected in 1686 on the order of the Sieur de Troyes to make it easier for the voyageurs to locate the entrance to the Mattawa River on their voyage to the West.
Riding the Rails
The railroad, another mode of transport steeped in mythology, is still used today to move resources across the country, but at one time it was responsible for much of the economic growth in Northeastern Ontario. The westward expansion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 1880s—from Bonfield, where the first spike was driven into a sunken railway tie—led to the birth of communities such as North Bay and Sudbury, and the growth of lumber and mining industries in the north.
When the T&NO line (Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway—later Ontario Northland), expanded north of North Bay, agriculture and lumbering flourished in the New Liskeard and Clay Belt area. More importantly, the TNO led to the discovery of silver in Cobalt and gold in Timmins when track construction exposed precious metals.
Many of these northern railway stations are designated as historic sites and open to the public, like the Canadian Pacific Railway station in downtown North Bay—now the North Bay Museum—and the unusual Ron Morel Memorial Museum in Kapuskasing.
The Group of Seven and Beyond
Northeastern Ontario is home to scenic landscapes that inspired Canada's most famous artists—known as the Group of Seven. The beauty of the province's rugged, untouched scenery united this determined group of artists and marked the beginning of Canada’s first internationally recognized art movement. While their paintings now hang in some of the world's top galleries, it's possible to see the incredible landscapes that inspired these intrepid artists in real life—all just a short drive from Toronto.
- Urban Arts
- Did You Know?
- Historic Sites
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