TRAVEL LIKE A LOCAL | Top 10,000 Places to Visit in Canada
The page created by Graeme Kennedy | University of New Brunswick 
| Photo by P199, CC BY-SA 4.0
It is hardly a trip to Bobcaygeon without a cone of Kawartha Dairy ice cream. The beloved brand was born here and the production plant and retail store are a local mainstay.
Kawartha Dairy ice cream uses mostly local milk to craft its legendary ice cream in more than forty flavours. Take a cone to go and walk Bobcaygeon’s charming downtown, or go for a stroll beside the canal.
Photo: facebook.com/KDIceCream
Don’t miss the first lock built almost 200 years ago to start the unique Trent-Severn Waterway. Now it’s the National Historic Site.
Back in 1832, the government of Upper Canada built this first lock between Sturgeon and Pigeon Lakes, allowing the lumber industry to boom. Bobcaygeon has been designed as Trent-Severn Trail Town.
Photo: Google Street View
What was once a thriving family farm, Kawartha Settlers’ Village is now home to a fascinating collection of over 20 historic homes and buildings. Experience what life was like for pioneers in the Kawarthas as you stroll leisurely through the Village and discover artifacts from 1830 – 1935.
Photo: https://www.facebook.com/kawartha.settlersvillage
This bright and inviting shop offers a tastefully curated mix of vintage clothing, records, and housewares, alongside house-designed graphic T’s, hoodies and hats. They even have their own line of locally-made soy-wax candles.
A great place to find a vintage gem or a stylish reminder of your time in Bobcaygeon.
Photo: facebook.com/Douglas-Son-260163580786105
At nearly 1,100 acres, Chiminis/Big/Boyd island is the largest undeveloped island in the Kawarthas, and as such is home to an impressive array of plants and wildlife.
The island was donated to the Kawartha Land Trust in 2015. Canoeing or kayaking the shoreline makes for a scenic paddle. With 8km of marked trails, hiking the island is a great way to spot wildlife, and swimming and fishing are also permitted.
Photo: thepeterboroughexaminer.com/
Every Saturday from May to October the Bobcaygeon Farmers’ Market brings the best of this fertile region into one friendly, community-driven space.
Get local honey, butter, fruits and vegetables; baked goods, local preserves and cheeses, local meat, stained glass, craft furniture, craft beer, and more. You’ll find everything you need for your waterside picnic, or to fuel the next leg of your road.
See the website for a full list of vendors.
Photo: https://www.facebook.com/bobcaygeonfarmersmarket
Stop by the park at Lock 32 on Thursdays in July and August for a free concert in a beautiful setting. Bring your chair or blanket, or sit in your boat and hear different artists every week.
If you’ve got children, come at 5:30 for a kid’s concert, and stay for the adult concert at 6:30. Bring food from a local shop or restaurant (maybe some Kawartha Dairy ice cream) to make it the perfect Bobcaygeon evening.
Photo: explorekawarthalakes.com
Mossom Boyd was a member of the Anglo-Irish gentry, who, upon moving to Canada, quickly became the lumber king of the Trent.
In 1834, 19-year-old Mossom Boyd arrived in the backwoods of Upper Canada, Sturgeon Lk area. Within a decade he’d taken over a small sawmill at nearby Bobcaygeon, in the Kawartha Lakes district.
Don’t miss the Boyd Heritage Museum. Built in 1889, the building which now houses the museum was home to The Boyd Lumber Co.
Photos: Boyd family fonds, Trent University Archives, Peterborough, Ontario; theboydmuseum.com
Bobcaygeon hosts the annual Ontario Open Fiddle & Stepdance Contest during the last weekend of July.
The first was held in October 1970, as part of the annual Fall Fair. It became the Ontario Open Fiddle Contest in 1971 and became a separate event with a July event date in 1973.
In 1974, with the addition of stepdancing to the contest, it became the Ontario Open Fiddle & Stepdance Contest.
Photo: facebook.com/OntarioFiddleContest
Located in beautiful downtown Bobcaygeon, Cake by the Lake is able to meet all your cheesecake desires. Offering many different flavour options in three sizes.
If you’re driving, come in from the north and make Cake by the Lake your first stop.
Photos: https://cakebythelake.ca/
Globus Theatre provides professional theatre to visitors and residents of the Kawartha Lakes.
Established in 2003 by Sarah Quick and James Barrett to provide the Kawartha Lakes with a producing professional theatre company, in 2006, Globus became the company in residence at the Lakeview Arts Barn.
Photo: https://globustheatre.com/
