Location
The County of Lennox and Addington - Loyalist
In Bath, in Centennial Park on the north side of Main Street (Highway 33) just east of Church Street (County Road 7)
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Photographer
Alan L Brown
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More Information
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Posted
May 28, 2004
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Text from the Plaque
Settlement of this village, one of Ontario's oldest communities, began in 1784 when discharged soldiers from Jessup's Rangers, a Loyalist corps, took up land grants in the vicinity. The sheltered harbour here provided easy access stimulating the growth of a community. Connected to Kingston by an early waterfront road, the hamlet, called Ernestown, contained a tavern, a church and an academy by 1811. A significant shipbuilding industry developed and in 1816 the "Frontanac", the first steamboat in Upper Canada, was launched from a local shipyard. Two years later the settlement was officially renamed Bath. Incorporated as a village in 1859, it prospered as a commercial, shipping and industrial centre well into the 1870s. Today Bath 's thriving past is reflected in its many distinctive 19th century buildings.
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