Bowmanville History
Bowmanville, about 75 km east of Toronto, was first settled by three loyalist families after the American Revolution, one of whom built a sawmill. The community quickly grew to three mills. After the York- Kingston Road was opened in 1801, a hotel was built for the travelers. Over the years, the town attracted the Dominion Organ and Piano Factory, the Goodyear Rubber Plant, the Bowmanville Foundry, and The Cream of Barley Mill and became a major manufacturing centre. Bowmanville was incorporated as a village in 1852 and as a town in 1858.
During World War II, Bowmanville was the site of a Prisoner of War (POW) camp for German Afrika Corps officers, who were later joined by naval prisoners. Once the 401 was built after World War II, the area enjoyed a housing boom.
Today, Bowmanville is home to the Mosport International Raceway, the Total Hockey hockey museum (opened in 2006), a Goodyear factory, the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, and has a deep water marina on Lake Ontario and an RCMP headquarters.
Bowmanville Background
Bowmanville Attractions
Clarington has seven Conservation Areas, 88 parks, downhill and X-country skiing, a 17 kilometre stretch of the Waterfront Trail.
Archibalds Winery & Cider House
6275 Liberty Street North
Bowmanville, On L1C 3K6 Canada
From Hwy. #401, take the Liberty Street Exit #432 north 12 km (on E side)
(905) 263-2396 Fax: (905) 263-4263
Archibald Orchards Estate Winery is a family farm & winery in the foothills of the Oak Ridges Moraine. It is blessed with a southwesterly slope, perfect for growing apples! Take a tour of the family farm, learn about growing apples and matching fruit wines with foods, and sample four wines ranging from dry to sweet. You can stroll among the 10,000 apple trees at this picturesque location.
Bowmanville Zoological Park
340 King St. East
Bowmanville, ON, L1C 3K5
(905) 623-5655 (905) 623-0957
North America’s oldest privately owned zoo, established in 1919, has over 300 animals, including famous animal celebrities (from movies and television), on 42 acres of untamed land. There is also a 400 seat indoor “Animatheatre”.
Clarington Museums & Archives
62 Temperance Street,
Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3A8
905-623-2734 Fax : 905-623-5684
The Bowmanville Museum is in a one story 1847 Regency style cottage, which had additions built in 1861 and 1880, to bring to today’s appearance as a two story Italianate styled house. The Museum has been restored as a period home (1901-1930) reflecting the lifestyle of a wealthy merchant family. The nine rooms with late Victorian furnishings include a parlour, dining room, conservatory, master bedroom and a girl and boy bedroom. Open April to Dec, Tuesday – Sunday 11 am to 4 pm, and Jan – March by appointment. Admission.
Clarke Museum
7086 Old Kirby School Road,
Kirby, Ontario
905-623-2734 Fax : 905-623-5684
The Clarke Museum, located on the land of Kirby’s first settler Nathanial Powers, and the first designated heritage building in the community. See a turn-of-the-last-century blacksmith shop, early agricultural equipment, displays of agricultural tools used by our ancestors, a one room schoolhouse to showcase early pioneer life in Clarke Township.
Open April to Dec, Thursday – Sunday 11 am to 4 pm, and Jan – March Thursday & Sunday 12:30 to 4 pm. Admission.
Courtice Community Complex
2950 Courtice Road
Courtice, ON
905-404-1525.
This facility has a 25-metre, 5 lane pool with waterslide; community/banquet hall with kitchen facilities; fitness/weight room equipment.
Darlington Nuclear Plant
Ontario Power Generation
Box 4000, Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3Z8
905-623-7122, 1-800-461-0034
Darlington Nuclear Generating Station is Ontario Power Generation’s newest CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) nuclear generating station. It is a 4-unit station with a total output of 3,524 megawatts (MW) and is located in the Municipality of Clarington in Durham Region, 70 km east of Toronto. It provides about 20 per cent of Ontario’s electricity needs, enough to serve a city of two million people.
Darlington produces electricity with heat created by nuclear fission using natural uranium fuel.
Darlington Provincial Park
1600 Darlington Park Rd.
Bowmanville, Ontario, L1C 3K3
905-436-2036
This recreational park east of Oshawa holds a tiny cemetery and an early settler’s log cabin.. From the bluff, watch for migrating birds – warblers in spring, waterfowl and raptors in fall, and year-round terns and plovers. In winter, skate on McLaughlin Bay or toboggan down the hills
Enniskillen Conservation Area
7274 Holt Rd, Hampton, ON L0B 1J0
Exit 401 at Waverly Rd. Travel North on Regional Rd. #57. Turn Left at Concession Rd. 7. Turn Right on Holt Road and follow the signs.
(905) 579-0411
The 65-hectare Enniskillen Conservation Area on the south slopes of the provincially significant Oak Ridges Moraine, is close to the village of Enniskillen. There is a 3 km network of trails through beautiful coniferous forest, a cedar swamp, open wetlands and gentle brook. The trail network has several sections of boardwalk and crosses the upper portion of the Bowmanville Creek five times. You can see the foundations of the 1874 Moorey Grist Mill (dismantled in 1956) which used the constant supply of water to grind locally-grown grain, though the earthen dam, which held back the creek water to produce the millpond, is still there.
Ganaraska Forest Centre
10585 Cold Springs Camp Road in Campbellcroft
905-797-2721
The Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority was created in 1946 and manages area parklands and hundreds of kilometres of trails, to support a variety of activities: hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and nature appreciation. Motorized activities such as off-road motorcycle riding, ATV-ing and snowmobiling are permitted only in the West Forest and East Forest, with the Central section of the Forest for passive use.
Jungle Cat World
3667 Concession 6
Orono, ON, L0B 1M0
(905) 983-5016 (905)983-9858
Jungle Cat World is a wildlife park located on 15 picturesque acres in the Municipality of Clarington in historical Orono, just 45 minutes east of Toronto. Established in 1983, and credited in 1989 by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA ), Jungle Cat World is home to a variety of threatened and endangered species such as lemurs, gibbons, cotton-top tamarins and spider monkeys, the park specializes in wild felines. They include the world’s largest, the Siberian tiger, and the rarest, the Amur leopard, as well as some of the smallest like the sand cats from the African deserts.
Mosport
3233 Concession Road #10, RR #5
Bowmanville, Ontario, L1C 3K6
Phone: (905) 983-9141 Fax: (905) 983-5195
401 E. (past Oshawa) Exit#431 to Regional Rd 57 N. 17.2 km (past Taunton, past fire hall)
Mosport International Raceway is a multi-track facility located north of Bowmanville, Ontario. Mosport features a 2.5 mile, 10 turn road course; a half-mile, paved oval; a 1 km kart track and the 1.5 mile Mosport Driver Development Centre.
Sarah Jane Williams Heritage Centre
62 Temperance Street
Bowmanville, Ontario
905-623-2734 Fax : 905-623-5684
Clarington’s newest museum, in the former Bowmanville Library, houses exhibits devoted to the Dominion Organ and Piano Company (once the second largest organ and piano producer in Canada), as well as a large doll and toy collection (from the collection of Evelyn Strahlendorf, the premier collector of Canadian dolls). There are also travelling exhibits from the Royal Ontario Museum. Research facilities for our archival collection include a private research room. Open: Tuesday – Friday, 11 am to 4 pm.
Visual Arts Centre of Clarington
143 Simpson Ave. P.O.Box 52
Bowmanville, On L1C 3K8
Phone: (905) 623-5831 Fax: (905) 623-0276
Hwy 401 to Liberty Street in Bowmanville, Liberty to Baseline, east on Baseline to Simpson, north of Simpson to Soper Creek Park
Presentation of ever-changing art exhibits. Open July/August: Monday-Friday 10-5 p.m; Saturday 12-4 p.m; Sunday 1-4 p.m. during exhibitions; Closed holiday weekends. Open rest of year: Tuesday-Saturday 11-5 p.m;Thursday 11-8 p.m; Sunday 1-4 p.m during exhibitions.