Welcome to the historic Toronto Islands: North America's largest urban car-free community. This interconnected string of islands offers unique views of Toronto skylines, a throwback to an older era of recreation and resort life, and plenty of green space to take in.
Before colonization, the islands were used by aboriginal tribes (Ojibwa and Mississauga) as sacred grounds, and places to bring the sick to convalesce. As York (then Toronto) expanded, the islands became known as recreational, resort stops with hotels, stadiums, beaches, and amusement parks. While the hotels are now gone, a few neighborhoods remain, and ferry access allows visitors to wander the boardwalks, gardens, and beaches at their leisure.
An amusement park still remains, as well as the Great Lakes oldest lighthouse, and if you're careful enough you'll find small hints to an older era not quite forgotten.
For some excellent reading on Toronto's waterfront, try Along the Shore by Jane Fairburn, which provides wonderful stories, photos, and almost-forgotten history. For some important reading on the Mississauga Ojibwe people, we suggest Mississauga Portraits: Ojibwe Voices From Nineteenth Century Canada by Donald B. Smith.
Other Tours to Consider:
Toronto's Waterfront - The Bluffs
As much a part of Toronto's waterfront as The Beaches, Toronto's Islands are rich in history and the only group of islands on the west part of Lake Ontario. They are formed from the same land deposits associated with the Scarborough Bluffs.
Hanlan Point is now known for being one of Canada's only recognized nude (or "clothing optional" as the kids like to say) beaches, but this wasn't always the case. From 1897 to the 1930's, it was home to the Hanlan Point Amusement Park, and of course Hanlan Point Stadium. What made Hanlan Point Stadium worth mentioning? Ever wonder where Babe Ruth hit his first home run? On September 5th, 1914, the 19 year-old rookie cracked his first homer out of Hanlan Point Stadium. A plaque can be found commemorating the event, the place, and the era.
Gibralter Point Lighthouse is the oldest existing lighthouse on the Great Lakes. Construction on the lighthouse started in 1803, and was completed for operation in 1808. Located on the Toronto Islands, the lighthouse has a certain notoriety for being haunted. Its first keeper, John Paul Radelmüller, was murdered on January 2nd, 1815 - supposedly by drunker soldiers from Fort York. His body was never found, though some claim to have witnessed his apparition, and heard his moaning ghost.
St. Andrew's By The Lake is an Anglican church located on the Toronto Islands. Origally built in 1884, near the water filtration plant, it was moved in 1959 to its current location - a task that required the church being meticulously sawed in half. In 1984, the church was restored to keep with its centennial.
Located on Toronto Islands, Centreville Amusement Park was constructed in 1967 in an attempt to draw more recreational visitors. It was built to replace the Toronto's famous Sunnyside Amusement Park which closed its doors in 1955.
Truth be told, there is no actual Ward's Island. But if you go to the eastern most region of Center Island, you'll find a small, eclectic neighborhood with a beautiful beach that everyone refers to as Ward's Island. The area was named after David Ward, whose family once built and ran a hotel in the area. The residential area was once a tenting community, and even today - in contrast other, more popular beaches on Center Island - is known as a quiet neck of the woods to relax.
Enrich your experience by reading books about the places on your tour!
Mike Filey’s column “The Way We Were” first appeared in the Toronto Sunday Sun not long after the first edition of the paper hit the newsstands on September 16, 1973. Now, almost four decades later, Filey’s column has enjoyed an uninterrupted stretch as one of the newspaper’s most widely read features. In 1992 a number of his columns were reprinted in Toronto Sketches: “The Way We Were.” Since then another nine volumes have been published, each of which has attained great success.
With Toronto, Ontario as a featured example, Life in a Residential City provides insight for children into living in the housing zone of a big modern city. With a focus on where people live as opposed to where they work, this book explains the many different areas of a city that make living possible, including the people, the traffic, the roads and the buildings.
Ontario's rich geologic history is illustrated here by short descriptions of more than 200 field sites ranging from Timmins in the north to Windsor in the south. These include the Sleeping Giant near Thunder Bay; Agawa Canyon; the Sudbury meteorite crater; Niagara Escarpment; the Falls and Gorge; numerous caves, the mineral-rich Bancroft area; and the high lakeshore cliffs at Scarborough Bluffs. Some sites are sacred to First Nations and are associated with spectacular rock art.
Ontario Rocks tells this fascinating 3 billion year long story of Ontario's geological evolution, from its beginnings as part of an early landmass called Arctica, its incorporation into enormous supercontinents, through to the repeated ice ages and abrupt climatic changes of the last few thousand years. Merging Canadian geology with global evolution, this highly illustrated survey also touches on the development of Ontario's mining and oil industries, and the commercial use of rocks as building material.
Eugenia Ledoux, nine years old, wakes to a note from her father: ‘gone to save the world. sorry. yours, sheb wooly ledoux. asshole.’ Eugenia is left behind with her mother, the sharp-edged B-movie actress Mink, and her sister, the death-obsessed and hauntingly beautiful Immaculata. When Mink climbs into the family car and vanishes, Eugenia doubles in age overnight, but remains the dark and diminutive creature who earned the nickname ‘Stunt.’
On December 22, 2022 as eastern Canadians were getting ready for the holidays, a bizarre weather system brought crippling freezing rain to central and eastern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. Over 300,000 people lost power in Toronto alone and 70,000 were still without it on Christmas morning. Officials estimate that 40% of power lines in the GTA were affected and more than 20% of Toronto’s tree canopy was destroyed.
Rifke (Rosalie Wise Sharp) grew up in North Toronto in a household very different from those of her peers. Her family's traditional Yiddish customs and hard life style made her feel like she was born into the wrong family. Over the course of her life - and its many experiences that range from despair to incredible wealth - Rifke realized the spartan lifestyle of her parents did wonders to stretch her mind, her creativity, and the importance of remember one's roots.
For a quarter century, Glenn Cochrane, of CFTO's six o'clock news, left viewers with a smile by scouring the city for the genuine eccentrics and landmark fests that put Hogtown on the map.
On August 1, 1933, two young women, the famous aviatrix Grace O'Gorman and the inexperienced Willa Briggs, take off in a tiny Moth biplane to break the world flight endurance record. Their plan: to circle above the city of Toronto for twenty-five days.
Unbuilt Toronto explores never-realized building projects in and around Toronto, from the citys founding to the twenty-first century. Delving into unfulfilled and largely forgotten visions for grand public buildings, landmark skyscrapers, highways, subways, and arts and recreation venues, it outlines such ambitious schemes as St. Alban's Cathedral, the Queen subway line and early city plans that would have resulted in a Paris-by-the-Lake.
The Robber Bride was first published in 1993. Set in present day Toronto, Ontario, the novel follows three women, Roz, Charis, and Tony, who meet once a month at a resturant where they share a meal. During one of these outings, the three women see an old classmate, Zenia, creating an onset of memories through the perspectives of the women.
Along the Shore examines the Toronto waterfront, past and present, through the lens of four lakefront communities and districts — the Scarborough shore (including the Bluffs), the Beach, the Island, and the Lakeshore (New Toronto, Mimico, Humber Bay, and Long Branch). Each retains a direct and immediate connection with Lake Ontario and the natural world.
