This is a List of Ontario Tourist Routes throughout the province, which are designated to highlight places of cultural, environmental, or social importance.
It is currently unknown if the majority of these trails are still listed since many of the provincial highways of Ontario were decommissioned in 1997 and 1998, as the Tourist Trails followed the provincial highways for the majority of their length, although many sections travel along county roads and municipal/local streets as well. Although many municipalities, cities, and counties still sign these tourist routes, others may have chosen to discontinue them with the highways they followed, rendering them as historical footnotes.
African-Canadian Heritage Tour
The African-Canadian Heritage Tour (ACHT) is a designated trail along several county and city roads, and provincial highways.
The trail starts on Queen Street in the Sandwich neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario. It turns west at Prince Road, before turning south along Sandwich Street. It curves along Sandwich Parkway to Ojibway Parkway, formerly Highway 18. The trail follows County Road 20 to Amherstburg to County Road 10, which turns onto. It travels east along Middle Side Road towards the community of McGregor.[1]
The route turns north along County Road 9 (Howard Avenue) back to Windsor, Ontario. The ACHT turns east briefly along Highway 3, before turning onto Highway 401 eastbound to exit 28, County Road 25 (Puce Road). From there it travels to the town of Puce. The trail turns east along County Road 22 through Belle River until it meets County Road 42 southeast of the town. The trail turns and follows it through Tilbury, becoming Chatham–Kent Road 2, formerly Highway 2.[1]
The route turns south onto County Road 7 (Merlin Road) through the small community of Fletcher before turning east onto County Road 14 (8th Line). It follows County Road 14 through North Buxton to Highway 40. Upon reaching Highway 40, the trail follows it for 11 km (6.8 mi) through Chatham. It turns right along County Road 29 (Countryview Line) and heads northeast through Turnerville, turning north at County Road 29 (Lindsay Road). It follows this road to its terminus in Dresden, where the Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site can be found.[1]
The Algonquin Route was a loop north from Highway 401 through Algonquin Park and back. The route started at the Highway 35 / Highway 115 and Highway 401 interchange (exit 436) in Newcastle. At the split of Highway 35/115, the trail follows Highway 35 north through Lindsay and travels along a brief concurrency with Highway 7. It continues north along Highway 35 through Coboconk, Minden, Carnarvon and Dorset to Highway 60. From here, the trail turned east and crosses Algonquin Provincial Park. East of the park, Highway 60 meets Highway 41. The route turned south, passing through Eganville and following Highway 41 south to Napanee. The Algonquin Route was created as part of the Yours to Discover campaign by the Ontario provincial government, beginning in 1980 and continuing through the 1990s.[2][3][4]
Signage was no longer posted after 1998.[5]
The Deer Trail Route is a circular route in the Algoma Region of northern Ontario. Though it is circular, it has a "starting" point at the junction of Highway 17 and Highway 108 in Serpent River. It follows Highway 108 for its entire length, travelling through Elliot Lake, until the road becomes Highway 639. At the northern terminus of Highway 639, the road then turns back south along Highway 546 to its intersection with Highway 17 in Iron Bridge. From there it travels back along Highway 17 through Blind River, Algoma Mills and Spragge to Serpent River at a total distance of approximately 184 km (114 mi).[6]
The route serves mainly as an access route to wilderness recreation areas such as Mississagi Provincial Park. It also serves as a venue for an annual Deer Trail Studio Tour, a regional arts festival in which various venues along the route display and sell the work of local artists and craftspeople.[7]
The Great River Road loops through the northwestern section of the province. It begins in Kenora and travels east along Highway 17 to Highway 71, where it heads south, staying close to Lake of the Woods. It meets Highway 11 in Barwick, branching into two directions: one spur travels west along Highway 11 to Rainy River, while the main route travels east along Highway 11 to Fort Frances.
The eastern branch continues to Highway 502, travelling back up towards Dryden, and looping back west along Highway 17 to Kenora.
One spur continued along the Detroit River on Highway 18, now Essex County Road 20. It followed the northern shore of Lake Erie east to Leamington. It then continued along Highway 3 to Wainfleet, before terminating at Fort Erie. Another spur along Highway 11 met Highway 17, the Voyageur Route east and west to Montreal and Sault Ste. Marie. Much of the original signage is now gone, but a few signs remain on the routes, with one sign in Harrow on County Road 20. Until 1997, there were a few signs along former Highway 3 alignment near the Cottam and Essex areas.
As the route is now mostly county road, signage has been maintained in some areas, removed in some and left to simply fade to illegibility in others. In some areas where the signed route is concurrent with other posted tourist routes, markers for newly designated routes have displaced the "Heritage Highway" wheel. One such example is Trenton where on Highways 2 and 33 the Heritage Highway and Loyalist Parkway run concurrently with other signed tourist routes including a former Apple Route (to Brighton),[11] a segment of the Wine Route (to Picton)[12] and the Hastings County Arts Route (through Belleville).[13]
Recent signage bears a white-on-brown wheel and the words "Heritage Highway - Route des Pionniers", the latter being a version of the French language translation of "Heritage Highways, Sur la Route des Pionniers" used in the original 1972 joint promotional effort with Québec.
A section of Highway 33 between Amherstview and Trenton was designated the Loyalist Parkway in 1984. This designation was made to honour the United Empire Loyalists, who first settled that area of Ontario. The official designation was presided over by Queen Elizabeth II, when she visited Kingston during Ontario's bicentennial celebrations. Highway 33 now ends at Bloomfield, and the Loyalist Parkway continues as Prince Edward County Road 33 toward Stirling.
This route is still signed, Lambton CR 21's name north of Rutherford is "Oil Heritage Road".
Talbot Trail
The Talbot Trail is an historically significant overland route completed in the 1820s along the north shore of Lake Erie. The building of the route of almost 500 km (310 mi) in length was overseen by Colonel Thomas Talbot. It was originally a corduroy road, eventually becoming Highway 3 and several numbered county roads. Its original intent was to provide a continuous land route for settlers and military personnel between the Niagara region and Detroit, aiding in the development of the Talbot Settlement.
The actual 19th century settlement road began in Amherstburg and ended in Canborough, north of Dunnville, where existing settlement roads provided a route to Fort Erie and Niagara Falls.
The Welland Canal Route is designated along provincial highways and Regional Roads in Niagara Region along the Welland Canal.
The trail starts at the Queen Elizabeth Way and Highway 406 interchange in St. Catharines, traveling south to Highway 58 in Thorold. The Welland Canal Route travels under the canal, following Highway 58 to the intersection of Highway 20, Niagara Regional Road 82 (Allanport Road), and Niagara Regional Road 20 (Canboro Road). The route turns onto Canboro Road, crossing back over the Canal towards Highway 406. It then turns south along Highway 406 to Main Street in Welland, where it turns east and passes beneath the canal again. It follows Highway 140 south to Highway 58A, which it follows beneath the canal for the final time. The route turns south at Highway 58 and travels south Niagara Regional Road 3, formerly part of nearby Highway 3 in Port Colborne.
Through the Niagara Region, the route is designated as the Niagara Wine Route, and while well-signed, exists in the form of loops and spurs connecting the various wineries to the communities of the region.[16] The trunk route follows Niagara Regional Road 81, formerly Highway 8 from Grimsby eastward, where in western St. Catharines it diverges into two primary routes.
The first route travels north along Regional Road 34, then turns east, following the shore of Lake Ontario along Regional Road 87 and passing through Port Dalhousie and many of the wineries along the lakeshore. The other route passes along the edge of the Niagara Escarpment and through Niagara-on-the-Lake along Regional Roads 69, 100 and 55. A spur along Fourth Avenue and Ontario Street connects wineries in the west-end of the city and Downtown St. Catharines to the northern route, while another spur crosses through central Niagara-on-the-Lake and the community of Virgil, connecting both routes to the Niagara Parkway. The primary routes reconvene in the Olde Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake where Regional Roads 89 and 55 meet, not far from the mouth of the Niagara River.[17]
Newer signs are purely dark blue with white grapes, with the text "Wine Route" written below.[18] These new signs are seen throughout Niagara Region and Prince Edward County.
Rideau Heritage Route
The Rideau Heritage Route (français: Circuit patrimonial Rideau) links Ottawa with Kingston via Smiths Falls and Perth.[19] The route is found in Eastern Ontario, along the oldest continuously operated canal in North America. The locks work today much as they did when first opened in 1832. They are a National Historic Site of Canada[20] and a UNESCO world heritage site.[21]
^ abcOntario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Surveys and Mapping Section. Ministry of Transportation. 1997. §§ M1–N3.
^"Ontario – Yours to Discover". Government of Ontario. June 14, 1980. pp. 10, 17, 21, 25. Retrieved May 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Cartography Section, Surveys and Plans Office. Ministry of Transportation and Communications. 1980–81. §§ C24–H28. Archived from the original on March 6, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
^Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Surveys and Mapping Section. Ministry of Transportation. 1998. §§ D11–I15. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved May 26, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
^Ontario Road Map (Map). Cartography by Geomatics Office. Ministry of Transportation. 1998. §§ N27–Q31. Retrieved May 26, 2021 – via Archives of Ontario.
^Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. "Deer Trail Touring Route". Government of Ontario. Retrieved June 20, 2015.