Lanark County | |
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| County of Lanark | |
.jpg) Lanark County Courthouse in Perth | |
| Nickname: The Maple Syrup Capital of Ontario | |
 Location of Lanark County | |
| Coordinates:45°00′N76°15′W / 45.000°N 76.250°W /45.000; -76.250 | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| Region | Eastern Ontario |
| Established | 1824 |
| County seat | Perth |
| Municipalities | List
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| Area | |
| • Land | 2,977.05 km2 (1,149.45 sq mi) |
| • Census division | 2,986.71 km2 (1,153.18 sq mi) |
| Land area excludes Smiths Falls | |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Total | 66,506 |
| • Density | 22/km2 (57/sq mi) |
| • Census division | 75,760 |
| • Census division density | 25.4/km2 (66/sq mi) |
| Total excludes Smiths Falls | |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| Website | www |
Lanark County is acounty andcensus division located in theCanadian province ofOntario. Itscounty seat isPerth, which was first settled in 1816[2] and was known as a social and political capital before being overshadowed by a city known today asOttawa.[3]
Most European settlements of the county began in 1816, when Drummond, Beckwith and Bathurst townships were named and initially surveyed.[4] The first farm north of the Rideau was cleared and settled somewhat earlier, in 1790.[5] The county took its name from the town ofLanark inScotland. Nearly all the townships were named after British public and military figures from the era of early settlement.[5]
In 1824, Lanark County was severed fromCarleton County inBathurst District, and it consisted of the following townships and lands:
together with all the unsurveyed lands within the District of Bathurst, and such Islands in the Ottawa River as are wholly or in greater part opposite to the said townships and unsurveyed land[6] |
When Carleton was withdrawn from the District in 1838,Renfrew County was severed from part of Lanark,[7] but the two remained united for electoral purposes.[8] By 1845, all lands in the District had been surveyed into the following townships:
| Lanark | Renfrew |
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In 1851, the township of Pakenham was transferred from Renfrew to Lanark.[9]
Effective January 1, 1850, Bathurst District was abolished, and the "United Counties of Lanark and Renfrew" replaced it for municipal and judicial purposes.[10] The counties remained united for electoral purposes in theParliament of the Province of Canada, referred to as the County of Lanark,[11] until Renfrew gained its own seat in 1853.[12]
The separation of Renfrew from Lanark began in 1861, with the creation of a Provisional Municipal Council[13] that held its first meeting in June 1861.[14] The United Counties were dissolved in August 1866.[14]
| Municipality | Constituted from | Map |
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Smiths Falls is aseparated town and is for municipal purposes not part of the county. It is mostly located in Lanark, while its southern part was annexed from theUnited Counties of Leeds and Grenville.
The county is located in the sub-region ofSouthern Ontario namedEastern Ontario. Geologically, the northern part of the county is in theCanadian Shield and the southern part is in theGreat Lakes Basin. The county has two large rivers, theMississippi andRideau, each of which empty into theOttawa River. The landscape is varied including Canadian Shield (withgneiss,granite andmarble) as well aslimestone plains, with a variety of tills, sands and clays left from the melting of glaciers in the last ice age.[15]
At the time of settlement, most of the county was covered intemperatedeciduous forest; the dominant forest trees includedmaple,hemlock,oak andbeech.[15] Some of the higher ridges in the west of the county were likely once natural fire barrens, with a distinctive fauna and flora.[16] The clearance of forests began with early settlement, at which time one of the important exports from the area waspotash, made from the ashes of the trees burned in clearing.[17]
The natural diversity of the landscape supports over 1,200 species of plants in the county flora.[18] Seventeen areas have been documented as outstanding examples of plant diversity; these include Blueberry Mountain, Burnt Lands Alvar, Clay Bank Alvar, Christie Lake, Murphy's Point Provincial Park and Almonte Town Park.[19] The county also has 47 provincially significant wetlands. Some of the largest are Blueberry Marsh (north of Perth), the Innisville Wetlands (upstream of Mississippi Lake) and the Goodwood Marsh south of Carleton Place.[20] In addition to David White's list of 17 areas of plant diversity, Paul Keddy lists 17 special places in the county.[21] Both lists have the Burnt Lands Alvar, the Christie Lake Barrens andMurphy's Point Provincial Park. Keddy's list adds areas such as Playfairville Rapids,[22] Lavant/Darling Spillway and the Carleton Place Hackberry stand. Also of interest is an old shoreline which crosses the county diagonally, approximately from Almonte in the northeast to Perth in the southwest.[23] This shoreline was formed about 12,000 years ago near the end of the last ice age when much of the Ottawa Valley was inundated by theChamplain Sea. Many areas below this old shoreline are flat clay plains, with occasional outcrops of gneiss or limestone ridges.
Some of the distinctive southern animals in the county includefive-lined skinks[24] (Ontario's only species of lizard),black ratsnakes andsouthern flying squirrels.[25] Unusual southern plants includearrow arum, a nationally rare wetland plant found near Mississippi Lake.[26] The south-facing cliffs overBig Rideau Lake, includingFoley Mountain, have a slightly warmer climate, and therefore support an unusual southern flora[19] includingshagbark hickory, tall cinquefoil (Potentilla arguta) and a rare fern,blunt-lobed woodsia.[27] Cliff Bennett provides a list of 26 routes for canoe and kayak exploration of the county.[28]
From thecensus division in the2021 Census of Population conducted byStatistics Canada, Lanark County had a population of75,760 living in31,909 of its35,441 total private dwellings, a change of10.3% from its 2016 population of68,698. With a land area of 2,986.71 km2 (1,153.18 sq mi), it had a population density of25.4/km2 (65.7/sq mi) in 2021.[1]
| 2021 | 2016 | 2011 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 75,760 (+10.3% from 2016) | 68,698 (+4.6% from 2011) | 65,667 (+3.0% from 2006) |
| Land area | 2,986.71 km2 (1,153.18 sq mi) | 3,035.64 km2 (1,172.07 sq mi) | 3,033.82 km2 (1,171.36 sq mi) |
| Population density | 25.4/km2 (66/sq mi) | 22.6/km2 (59/sq mi) | 21.6/km2 (56/sq mi) |
| Median age | 48.8 (M: 47.2, F: 50.4) | 48.2 (M: 47.0, F: 49.2) | |
| Private dwellings | 35,441 (total) 31,909 (occupied) | 32,695 (total) 28,580 (occupied) | 31,361 (total) |
| Median household income | $88,000 | $71,660 |
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| Population counts are not adjusted for boundary changes. Source: Statistics Canada[1][32][33][34] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The county is one of the top centres ofmaple syrup production in Ontario and describes itself as "The Maple Syrup Capital of Ontario".[35]
There are two provincial parks in Lanark County:[36]Murphy's Point Provincial Park on Big Rideau Lake andSilver Lake Provincial Park alongHighway 7 near the west end of the county. TheRideau Trail[37] andTrans-Canada Trail[38] both go through Lanark County. There are also several conservation areas run by theMississippi Valley Conservation Authority,[39] theRideau Valley Conservation Authority,[40] and the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust.[41] TheK&P rail trail goes through the northwest corner of the county.
Places adjacent to Lanark County | ||||||||||||||||
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