Galway-Cavendish and Harvey is a township

Township (Canada)

The term township generally means the district or area associated with a town. However in some systems no town needs to be involved. The specific use of the term to describe political subdivisions has varied by country, usually to describe a local rural or semi-rural government within the county...

 in the rural, mostly wooded northern section of Peterborough County

Peterborough County, Ontario

Peterborough County is located in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is projected to reach a population of 159,840 by 2031, according to the Ontario Ministry of Finance's Ontario Population Projections Update...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

The municipality was formed in 1998 through an amalgamation of the Township of Galway & Cavendish and the Township of Harvey.

Communities

The township comprises the communities of Buckhorn, Buckhorn Lake Estates, Burleigh Falls, Catchacoma, Crystal Lake, Ewan, Flynns, Fortescue, Kawartha Hideaway, Lakehurst, Mississauga Landing, Mount Irwin, Nogies Creek, Oak Shores Estates, Point Pleasant, Rockcroft and Sugar Bush.

Geography

Galway-Cavendish-Harvey is home to Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park

Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park

Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park is a 375 km² area of preserved wilderness and recreational areas in south-central Ontario, Canada. It is located to the north and east of the main belt of the Kawartha lakes primarily in the township of North Kawartha...

, which is set around Catchacoma Lake and Mississauga Lake.
Three violent summer wind storms have hit this area doing damage to property and forest, one in 1927, then 1995 and in 2006. The area is also a popular cottaging

Cottage

__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...

 and recreational area.

The community is a scenic location where Paleozoic limestone formations yield to the underlying Precambrian bedrock of pink gneiss; as a result, it attracts a large number of summer residents and visitors. The lakes above and below the falls, and even the falls themselves, are studded with numerous pine-covered rocky islands, similar to the Thousand Islands

Thousand Islands

The Thousand Islands is the name of an archipelago of islands that straddle the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about downstream from Kingston, Ontario. The Canadian islands are in the province of Ontario, the...

 region.

History

The area is rich in early First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

 sites, and many First Nations members live in the community year-round or seasonally on some of the islands in Lovesick Lake.

The old Harvey fire tower was located at the southern edge of Mississagua Lake (then known as Gull Lake). It was one of the 320 towers in the province used as an early warning in the detection of forest fires. Part of the Lindsay Forest District of towers this tower had its own phone line connection back to headquarters. The phone line still runs through the forest and up the hill to the old towers footings. In 1927 the Harvey tower was made of wood, but a hurricane came through and blew it over. Parts of the tower were found miles away. A newer wood tower was built in its place, that is, until 1938 when a light steel tower was erected. The tower system was abandoned by 1970 when aerial detection became favoured.

Recreation

Boaters use the Trent–Severn Waterway lock which raises boats 24 feet (7.3 m) from Stony Lake to Lovesick Lake. Boat campers find the nearby Wolf Island Provincial Park an ideal secluded place to camp, free from the crowds found at road-access parks.

Demographics

According to the 2006 Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....

 Census:

• Population: 5,284
• % Change (2001-2006): 20.9
• Area (km².): 848.26
• Density (persons per km².): 6.2
• Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 2234 (total dwellings: 5407)
• Mother tongue:
  • English as first language: 90.3 %
  • French as first language: 1.4 %
  • English and French as first language: 0 %
  • Other as first language: 8.3 %

Population trend:

• Population in 2006: 5284
• Population in 2001: 4372
• Population in 1996:
  • Galway and Cavendish (township): 765
  • Harvey (township): 3635
• Population in 1991:
  • Galway and Cavendish (township): 727
  • Harvey (township): 3146

External links

• Township of Galway-Cavendish and Harvey