Garden Island (Ontario)
Garden Island is an island in the municipality of Frontenac Islands, Frontenac County, in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Part of the Thousand Islands, it is located in the Saint Lawrence River, approximately 2 miles (3 km) south of Kingston, northwest of Wolfe Island, and is 30.75 hectares (76.0 acres) in size.
NASA image of Wolfe Island. Garden Island is the small island north of Wolfe Island directly beneath the mouth of the river labelled Kingston. New York is the landmass in the right corner. | |
Garden Island Location in southern Ontario | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | St. Lawrence River |
| Coordinates | 44°12′02″N 76°27′57″W |
| Archipelago | Thousand Islands |
| Area | 30.75 ha (76.0 acres) |
| Administration | |
| Province | Ontario |
| County | Frontenac County |
| Township | Frontenac Islands |
From the mid-1830s to around 1914, Delino Dexter Calvin and, later, his son, Hiram Augustus, operated a shipping and lumber operation based on the island. There was small industry consisting of timber transported to the island on ships and then assembled into large rafts that were floated down the Saint Lawrence River to Quebec City for transport to Britain. Now somewhat of a ghost town, few remnants of the original village exist.
The history of the former shipyard is the subject of an exhibit at the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston.