Heritage & Culture.
Upper Rideau Lake is the highest body of water in the Rideau Canal system — 124.65 m elevation, the canal's summit pool — and Westport sits at its western end. The 202-km Parks Canada-managed Rideau Canal corridor, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, runs from Kingston south of here to Ottawa to the north, with Narrows Lock east of the village and Newboro Lock to the south as the staffed Parks Canada lockstations bracketing the Upper Rideau corridor.
The brief.
The Rideau Canal was completed in 1832; the Westport village core was surveyed by Reuben Sherwood in 1803 and predates the canal, with formal incorporation as an independent municipality in 1904. Westport is Ontario's smallest incorporated municipality by land area at 1.68 sq km — an enclave village within the Township of Rideau Lakes.
The canal's navigation season runs roughly mid-May through mid-October, with locking-through fees at Narrows and Newboro lockstations. The Westport Municipal Harbour anchors the canal's western "head of navigation" framing on the Upper Rideau corridor.
6. places.
- 01
Rideau Canal National Historic Site / UNESCO World Heritage Site
202-km Parks Canada-managed waterway from Kingston to Ottawa; inscribed 2007; passes through Upper Rideau Lake at its summit pool.
- 02
Upper Rideau Lake summit pool
The highest body of water in the canal system at 124.65 m elevation, anchored at the western end by Westport.
- 03
Westport Municipal Harbour
The village's public harbour at the canal's western "head of navigation" framing.
- 04
Narrows Lock
Parks Canada lockstation east of Westport; connects Upper Rideau downstream to Big Rideau Lake.
- 05
Newboro Lock
Parks Canada lockstation south of Westport; connects to Newboro Lake.
- 06
Westport village core
Surveyed 1803 by Reuben Sherwood; incorporated 1904; Ontario's smallest incorporated municipality by land area.
Today's read.
Cool but comfortable for layered effort · light winds · clean air.