Brighton and Presqu’ile

By Guy Scott

The Township of Brighton was a late addition to Northumberland County. It did not exist until the 1850s. While all of Northumberland County was surveyed by 1800, the future township was not part of the plan. For some reason, the township was created by taking the east section of Cramahe Township and the west section of Murray Township and creating a new township called Brighton. This was late in the settlement game, because most of the area was already settled.

To the south of Brighton lies the famous Presqu’Ile Bay. This natural harbour, one of the few good harbours on the north shore of Lake Ontario, was tabbed for fame early in the history of Ontario. Early explorers such as LaSalle camped here. In the 1790s, a townsite was surveyed on Presqu’ile Point and named Newcastle. The new townsite was declared the county town for the area, and a courthouse was built. But the future of Newcastle town was not to be. In 1804, a sailing vessel called the Speedy was enroute to Newcastle for a murder trial when it sank off Presqu’ile Point. The vessel contained a 20 man delegation of judicial officials headed for the new courthouse and was a huge loss to the justice department of the fledgling colony of Upper Canada. The loss cast a pall on the colony and it was decided to move the court house to a more central (and safer) location at Cobourg.

The future town of Brighton received its first settlers in 1796. Like all of the townships of Northumberland County, they were Loyalists or friends of Loyalists. By 1830, two small settlements existed on the future site of Brighton village: Singleton’s Corners and Bettes Creek. The next year they were amalgamated into the village of Brighton, named after the town in southern England.

Like many of the lakefront villages in Northumberland, the village was inland several miles from the lake front. A small seaport called Gosport was located on the actual lake front in Presqu’ile Bay. Here the shipping wharves were located that carried all the goods in and out of the area. As the age of sail declined, Gosport declined and by the 1850s, goods were carried by road or by that new fangled invention, the railway. Gosport and Presqu’ile Bay were converted to the tourist trade.

Brighton meanwhile prospered as a centre of commerce for the township. Agricultural and timber products were exported to the world. Like Colborne, Brighton became the centre of the apple industry. A huge canning facility was the town’s largest employer, and as the timber trade declined, farming replaced it. The town contained 500 people in 1858 and grew to 1700 by 1878 thanks to the American trade during the Civil War. By 1950, its population was 2,000 and today it is home to 4,500 residents. Oh yes, the big event is still the Apple Festival!

Presqu’ile Point is a spit of land jutting out into Lake Ontario near Brighton. The word presqu’ile means peninsula in French or literally “almost island,” and was named by early French explorers in the 1600s. It contains a sheltered bay and some magnificent beaches. The bay was a sheltered anchorage for natives and early explorers, one of the few good harbours between Kington and Toronto. In the 1790s, it was designated as a “county seat” for the Home District (north shore of Lake Ontario) thanks to its harbour. But the site was too isolated from most settlements along the shore and was never developed. Not even the Murray Canal, a bypass from Bay of Quinte to Lake Ontario could lure urban development to Presqu’ile.

In 1840, a lighthouse was built on the point to assist navigators on Lake Ontario. It still stands today! As well, the bay attracted tourists and the Presqu’ile Hotel served tourists as early as the mid 1800s. In 1922, the area was designated a ‘park,’ and in 1954, Presqu’ile Park was formally incorporated into the Ontario Provincial Parks system. The resort and a golf course were discontinued and camping and wildlife conservation encouraged. The park contains excellent beaches for boating, camping and day trips. It also features habitat suitable for water birds and is a bird watcher’s paradise. It is located on the Michigan Flyway for migratory birds and serves as an important stopover for migrating water fowl.