RTHS Excursion: Pinhey’s Point Historical Site and Envions

Article by Sandy McNiece. Photos by Owen Cooke. June, 2018.

We had a beautiful warm day for our trip this year. We left from the North Gower Client Centre and headed first to the Pinhey’s Point Historical Site, which is on the Ottawa River close to Dunrobin.  The Pinhey Estate is an 88 acre heritage park and house that is currently owned by the City of Ottawa. The house was originally built by a London, England merchant by the name of Hamnett Pinhey who emigrated to the area around 1820 to reinvent himself as a landed gentleman in the colonial frontier.

The manor itself is preserved as much as possible to how it would have been in the mid-1800’s.  The guides we had for the tour were very informative and gave a fascinating account of how the manor operated at the time.  After the tour of the manor house, we were taken to the adjoining cemetery and church ruins by Bruce Elliott who gave us a very full accounting of the people and families who had lived at Pinhey’s Point and were buried in the church cemetery.  In short, for those who have not been to Pinhey’s Point, it is well worth a visit.

After our tour of the Pinhey’s Point grounds, we went to the new St. Mary’s Church built in 1909 which replaced the original church. It is a beautiful little church which is well cared for.

Our next stop was a brief visit to Camp Woolsey which is a Girl Guide Camp at nearby Crown Point. We toured an historic cottage at the camp which was named after a member of the family, Anna Pinhey, who donated funds for its restoration and ongoing support.

Having worked up a good appetite, we stopped for lunch at The Glen Restaurant in Stittsville before heading on to our last stop at the St. Clare Mission Church on Dwyer Hill Road.  The original church was a small wood chapel 40 ft. by 30 ft. which was built in 1849. The original church was replaced in 1915 with a church on the opposite side of the road.  The current church is architecturally unique with a steep pitched roof and has beautiful stain glass windows. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

That completed a full day of touring some beautiful historical sites and structures which are right in our own back yard.