Port Perry, Ontario

Port Perry (Pop. 8,499: Statistics Canada, 2006) is a community located in Scugog Township, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada.

History

The area around Port Perry was first surveyed as part of Reach Township by Major S. Wilmot in 1809. The first settler in the area was Reuben Crandell, a United Empire Loyalist who built a homestead with his wife in May of 1821. Their original home is still in use and can be seen on King Street between Prince Albert and Manchester. In November 1821, Lucy Ann Crandell became the first child of European descent born in the area. In 1831, Crandell and his family moved to a homestead at what became Crandell's Corners or Borelia, near the present-day junction of Queen Street and Highway 7A.

Settler Peter Perry laid out village lots on the shore of Lake Scugog in 1848 on the site of a former native village known as Scugog Village. The townsite was named Port Perry in 1852 and incorporated as a village in 1871. The village was amalgamated with Cartwright, Reach and Scugog Townships to form the Township of Scugog in 1974 upon the creation of the Regional Municipality of Durham.

Current status

Port Perry serves as the administrative and commercial centre for the Township of Scugog. A major employer is the Great Blue Heron Charity Casino. The town is home to a 24-bed hospital, Scugog Township's municipal offices and many retail establishments.

Located southeast of Uxbridge, Ontario, and southwest of Peterborough, Ontario, Port Perry is only about an hour northeast of the city of Toronto, the capital of the Province of Ontario and thus lies within the Greater Toronto Area. Many residents commute to Toronto on a daily basis.

Culture & recreation

Port Perry is known in the area for its picturesque, Victorian-era downtown, with many clothing stores, restaurants, cafés, bookstores, galleries and antique shops. In the summer, the town features a number of festivals, including the Mississauga First Nation PowWow, the Highland Games, the Dragon Boat Races and StreetFest. Its annual fair, held every Labour Day weekend, has been running for over 100 years. There are also numerous golf courses, both public and private. Other attractions in Port Perry and surrounding area include the Great Blue Heron Charity Casino, Scugog Memorial Library (featuring the Kent Farndale Art Gallery), the Scugog Shores Historical Museum and the Town Hall 1873 - Centre for the Performing Arts. At many local farms, visitors may pick their own seasonal fruit (strawberries, raspberries, apples). In the summer, scenic cruises on Lake Scugog are also featured. The Lake Scugog town shoreline offers two popular lakeside parks, Palmer and Birdseye. There are active fishing seasons, both winter and summer. In the winter months, Lake Scugog is dotted with ice-fishing huts and is a popular destination for both ice fishermen and snowmobilers.

Trivia

Daniel David Palmer, the founder of chiropractic, spent his childhood in this town. Port Perry has attracted many film crews over the years, both feature film and television; it doubled as the Maine town of Mooseport in the 2004 film "Welcome to Mooseport" and was used briefly as a small town in New Hampshire during the sixth season of "The West Wing". Port Perry is the hometown of actress Emily VanCamp and Playboy's Miss January, 2007, Jayde Nicole. Craig Russell, female impersonator, best known for his lead role in the movie, "Outrageous!", was born in Port Perry, living there until he left high school. He is buried in a local cemetery under his birth name, Russell Craig Edie.

External links

* [http://www.portperry.com Port Perry News, Business & Virtual Tours]
* [http://www.discoverportperry.ca Discover Downtown Port Perry]
* [http://www.townhall1873.ca TownHall 1873]