Local time Friday 6:37 AM | Province Ontario | |
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Port rowan ontario
Port Rowan is a town in Norfolk County, Ontario on Lake Erie, adjacent to Long Point. This lakeside community has a population of less than 1000 people and sports a number of traditional small business such as Twins Ice Cream Parlor which has been operating in the town for decades, in addition to a growing retirement population. Every Labour Day weekend, the town throws its annual Bay fest.
Contents
Map of Port Rowan, ON, Canada
History
Key buildings, including John Backhouse`s mill, that date back to the 18th century, remain in existence today. During the War of 1812 American soldiers burned all the mills on Lake Erie`s north shore, from the St Clair River to the Grand River, except for the Backhouse mill, and one other. According to Ron Brown, in ″The Lake Erie Shore: Ontario's Forgotten South Coast″, Backhouse`s mill was skipped due to powerful connections within the USA.
The South Norfolk Railway reached Port Rowan in 1886. It was acquired by the Canadian National Railway, which operated it until 1965.
In 1970 New Democratic Party MPP Morton Shulman asserted that Port Rowan was the destination of secret meetings of mafia leaders.
Economy
During the 18th century fishing, milling, and timber processing were the main industries, exploiting the water power of nearby watercourses. In 1850 the town processed 4,000,000 metres or 13,000,000 feet of timber. 1850 marked the beginning of shipbuilding in Port Rowan.
With the decline of the fishing, lumber and milling industries, tourism is the main economic activity in the region. Local sports include angling and boating in the Long Point Inner Bay and golfing at Stark's Golf Course at the edge of town. Bird Studies Canada is based at Port Rowan. Port Rowan in 2011 built a state of the art Water Treatment Plant, which assures future growth capacity in the town and its burgeoning retirement community.
Its proximity to Long Point, a major bird flight-path, and World Biosphere Reserve, makes Port Rowan a popular destination for bird-watchers. Some of the few remaining stands the old growth Carolinian forest that were present all over Southern Ontario can be found near Port Rowan.
There is a historic replica village nearby at the Backus Conservation Area.
Climate
Port Rowan traditionally belongs to the humid continental climate zone; even with the recent epidemic of mild winters and extremely warm and dry summers. Like in all communities, towns, and cities throughout the world, global warming due to human industrial activity has drastically altered the climate of Port Rowan throughout the decades.
The warmest summers that Port Rowan has witnessed occurred in 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 (with the exception of the month of July), 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Should the sea levels rise by 60 metres or 200 feet within the foreseeable future due to the increase in global temperatures, Port Rowan would not be affected by global flooding. However, it may be affected by droughts as a by-product of the dislocation of available fresh water and may be forced to rely on desalinated salt water piped in from the Eastern United States. Constructing the proper infrastructure to carry the water hundreds of miles away would take considerable manpower along with significant economic costs and an unprecedented level of cooperation from multiple federal, state/provincial, and municipal governments.