Beckett’s Landing: A River Runs Through It

By Coral Lindsay

The Packet, Friday February 22, 2008

Beckett's Landing is one of Ottawa's southern hamlets. keeping its rural heritage while embracing. the changes of the 2lst century. The Rideau River runs through this community which lies in Ward 21 along the north shore and in North Grenville .on the south shore, formerly Marlborough Township in Carleton County and Oxford Township in Grenville County.

Since the 1790s people have crossed the Rideau between these townships, so in the 1830s Thomas A. Beckett, formerly of Kemptville, moved here and established Beckett’s Landing. A landing or wharf was necessary on both sides because he also began a ferry service for the resident pioneers and travellers. The construction of the Rideau Canal meant that more settlers were arriving, and Thomas A. Beckett had chose his site near the mouth of the South Branch of the Rideau which flowed through Kemptville and beyond.

Besides the landings, the Becketts build an inn, an brewery and a wool carding mill. When the government constructed the first bridge at the Landing in 1858 Mr. Beckett retired the ferry and was appointed Bridgemaster. This occupation meant that he was obliged to open and close the swing span of the bridge to allow steamboats to pass along the Long Reach.

As navigation travel and tourism evolved, the Landing developed to include a small store, a lunch counter and rental cabins, as well as an outdoor dance pavilion. In 1927 the Becketts built the 2-storey Melody Inn to include the store, lunch counter and residence. Live bands played for weekly dances; gas pumps were installed and boats were available for rent. A prime fishing location in the area, Fisherman’s Point, is still very popular (but is supposed to be a well-kept secret.

In 1936 the swing bridge was preplaced by the high-level fixed span, and the old swing span relocated to Fort Henry in Kingston. The original abutments may be seen at Ludlow’s Boat Works on Donnelly Drive.

The first “River School”, S.S.#1 Marlborough was build near the Landing in 1849 with 40 pupils. It served for almost 125 years.

The North Rideau Methodist Church has vanished but the small cemetery on the north side of Donnelly Drive remains. St. Paul’s Anglican Church (1872) and cemetery are on a high knoll on the south side of the road overlooking the river and the surrounding farms – a well-known landmark today.

On the east side of the schoolyard where the Malakoff Road runs to the river, the Eligh family established Eligh’s Wharf where the steamboats docked regularly bringing passengers or freight and carrying away tons of Canadian cheddar for Ottawa, Montreal or the British Isles. Farming flourished and the cheese from three of Rideau’s 12 factories, at Malakoff, North Rideau and Beckett’s Landing was shipped from this location. In 1925 Nate Stewart bought the cheese factory at Beckett’s Landing (where Ludlow’s Boat Works is now located) and named it the Green Valley Cheese Factory. It was a thriving business for many years and was the last to operate in the area. After it closed in 1964 the Stewarts opened the Green Valley restaurant in Ottawa.

David Eligh and Luke De Pencier owned and operated the well-known tug Colonel By, with its barge Minnie, and upstream, also on the north shore, the Taylor Brick Yard manufactured thousands of bricks, marked “T” until 1918. There was also a wharf at their farm because most of the bricks were shipped on the barges.

Today the Landing is a popular location because of the Rideau Glen Golf Course, the Rideau Restaurant, the Boat Works, the Evergreen Motel and Bar, The Church, and a flourishing residential community.