Newboro

Where the Rideau slows, history deepens, and a village still feels discovered

A Rideau Canal village with a compact historic core, a working lockstation, and a long connection to fishing, boating, and summer life.

Set beside the Newboro lockstation on the Rideau Canal, Newboro brings together canal history, stone buildings, fishing culture, boating life, and long-standing village institutions. It sits between lakes and old routes, with a scale that makes the place easy to read on foot.

Newboro, Ont.

Highlights

• A Rideau Canal village shaped by defence history and lake culture, home to one of only four completed blockhouses on the canal.

• A remarkably walkable historic core with heritage buildings including St. Mary’s Anglican Church and the former school-courthouse, now the Newboro branch of the Rideau Lakes Public Library.

• Shopping, dining, and browsing anchored by longstanding village institutions such as Kilborn’s, with seasonal dining and accommodations nearby at Stirling Lodge and Poplars Resort.

• A growing creative side through Newboro Manor and Stone Manor Studios, where heritage architecture and contemporary workshops now meet.

• Easy access to boating, fishing, picnicking, and time on the water, with Newboro Lake and Upper Rideau woven into village life.

A village shaped by water

Water remains central to Newboro, though its role changes with the season. Boats move through the lockstation, people fish the lake, and spend time between the village core, the canal, and the surrounding lakes. In season, the movement of cottagers is part of that pattern too, with the village serving as a stop for provisions, browsing, lunch, and time off the water.

The open ground around the lockstation continues to be used for fishing, picnics, and time by the water. From the lock, it is a short walk into the village core, where the canal, village businesses, restaurants, and the routines of summer life still sit close together.

Newboro Blockhouse

Lock 36 – Newboro

The kind of village best explored slowly

Newboro is easy to take in on foot, with enough range to hold attention for an afternoon. For many decades, Newboro described itself as one of Ontario’s smallest incorporated communities, and the village has long been proud of its own scale. A visit might begin at the lock, continue through its historic core, and carry on through the shops before lunch.

Kilborn’s remains one of Newboro’s best-known institutions. For many visitors, a stop here is part of a longer Rideau day, with time shopping before continuing on to Westport for more browsing and a stop for food.

Fishing remains one of Newboro’s long-standing associations, especially for bass anglers returning season after season. The surrounding lakes continue to support boating, casting, and time on the water, while lodges such as Poplars Resort and Stirling Lodge reflect the area’s long connection to fishing culture and summer stays.

Travellers interested in canal construction history may also want to visit the Royal Sappers & Miners Cemetery just outside the village, connected to workers who died during construction at the Isthmus near present-day Newboro.

Kilborn’s on the Rideau, Newboro, Ont.

History and heritage in Newboro

Newboro’s importance came from more than the canal alone. The village occupied a meeting point between lakes, inland farms, timber routes, and, later, canal traffic. That position helps explain why such a small place developed with the confidence of a larger one.

Its built history reflects that role clearly. The Newboro Blockhouse, built in the early 1830s as part of Colonel By’s defensive strategy, remains one of the village’s defining landmarks and one of only four surviving blockhouses on the Rideau Canal. St. Mary’s Anglican Church, built in 1850 with support from Benjamin Tett, marks another stage in the village’s 19th-century development. The former courthouse and school, also dating to 1850 and now home to the Newboro branch of the Rideau Lakes Public Library, adds another civic layer to the village core. Newboro Manor, constructed in the 1860s by merchant John Draffin, reflects a later chapter, when commercial success and domestic architecture were being expressed on a larger scale. Together, these buildings show how defence, commerce, religion, education, and civic life were all part of Newboro’s development.

Newboro Manor

How Newboro fits into a broader Riverlands visit

Newboro works easily into a day spent moving through the Rideau side of the Riverlands. The canal villages sit close together here, so it is natural to pair Newboro with nearby lockstations, Westport, and the smaller communities along the route.

If history is the priority, Lyndhurst and Delta pair especially well with Newboro. The three villages sit close enough to build into a single day, moving from the Rideau Canal and the Newboro Blockhouse to Lyndhurst’s bridge and mill history, then on to Delta and the Old Stone Mill. Together, they show how canal construction, older settlement, water-powered industry, and long-standing village institutions all helped shape this part of the inland Riverlands.

St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Newboro, Ont.

Where to stay when visiting Newboro

For travellers who want to stay in the village, Poplars Resort and Stirling Lodge continue Newboro’s long tradition of lakeside accommodation.

Newboro also works well from elsewhere in the Riverlands. From Brockville or Gananoque, it offers a Rideau-side day that shifts the focus from the St. Lawrence to canal villages and lake country. From Westport, it fits easily into a day of nearby villages, waterfront stops, and time on the water. From Perth or Smiths Falls, it can be paired with Westport, nearby lockstations, and other Rideau communities.

North Crosby/Newboro Branch Library

This page will continue to evolve as more stories are told.