Culture and history

Thousand Islands National Park was established in 1904, the first Canadian national park east of the Rocky Mountains. It began with a small piece of waterfront property granted to the federal government by the Mallory family with the stipulation that it be used for "park purposes."

• New land acquisitions
• A big anniversary for a small park

Thousands of visitors flock to the 1000 Islands every summer to enjoy the boating, the fishing and the natural beauties of the area. In fact, such seasonal migrations have been going on in the islands since the end of the last Ice Age, some 10,000 years ago, when Aboriginal Peoples came to set up tents and to fish the rich waters of the river. Interesting evidence of these long ago summer visits was discovered in 1979, when a local man , while diving off Grenadier Island, found a ceramic pot embedded in the muck. It was identified as being of the Point Peninsula Culture which thrived about 2500 years ago.