Chaffey's Mills

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted March, 2006

Plaque Location

The County of Leeds and Grenville
The Township of Rideau Lakes
At Chaffeys Locks, on the east side of the one-lane bridge
over the lock at the end of Road 9

Coordinates: N 44 34.755 W 76 19.209

Plaque Text

Prominent early millers in Eastern Ontario, Benjamin and Samuel Chaffey were born in Somerset, England and came to Upper Canada in 1816. After settling briefly in Perth they moved to Elizabethtown (Brockville) where they operated mercantile and milling ventures. Encouraged by local residents to establish mills along the Rideau River, they chose this location in 1820. Samuel settled here soon after, effecting many improvements to the site. By 1827 an extensive complex including a distillery and grist, saw, carding and fulling mills had been established. A small settlement known as Chaffey's Mills gradually developed. The mills were flooded during the building of the Rideau Canal (1826-32), but shipping and, later, tourism stimulated the continuous growth of the community of Chaffey's Lock.

Related Ontario plaque pages
The Rideau Waterway
Rideau Canal 1826-1832

More
Settlements

Here are the visitors' comments for this page.

Posted May 27, 2011
The plaque indicates that the mills were flooded. How does the mill building still existing (built in 1842; south of road, west side of the canal) fit into this? Is this the same structure?

Here's where you can write a comment for this page.

Note: If you wish to ask me a question, please use the email link in the menu.

Note: Comments are moderated. Yours will appear on this page within 24 hours
(usually much sooner).