By James Rayner
To conclude our walks along the waterfront of beautiful Lake Ontario, we visited the Toronto Islands. These islands were once part of a large sandbar–formed by erosion from the Scarborough bluffs–that served as a protector of Toronto harbour from lake storms. That is part of the reason why John Graves Simcoe chose this site for the town of York. In one particularly severe storm, the sandbar was severed from the mainland and became an island, reachable only by boat and has remained so ever since. The western end, Hanlan’s Point, was extended with landfill to make space for a small airport which is now served by Porter Airlines.
We began our trip by taking the ferry to Hanlan’s Point and walking along the road that circles the islands. After getting off the ferry, the first thing to notice is the old tugboat, The Ned Hanlan, and the statue of Ned Hanlan who was a world-famous rower in his day.
It was at the old baseball stadium on Hanlan’s Point that Babe Ruth hit his first home run. In its time, Hanlan’s point had the stadium and several attractions: carousels, hotels, diving horses, roller coasters, but this has all disappeared in the city’s efforts to return the islands to parkland.
Further along the road is the entrance to the “Clothing Optional Beach.”
As I was with a group of voyeurs, we had to visit this beach. We saw one bare bottom and that was enough!
Continuing along the road, the next attraction is the “haunted” lighthouse. A murder took place here and the building is said to be haunted by the victim. The lighthouse is now surrounded by sand and trees, an indication of how much the sand has shifted over the years.
A little further along and the visitor arrives at Centre Island beach.
And then, we came to the Avenue of the Islands, the Parks Dept.’s attempt to replace the lively commercial town that existed here until the 1950s with plantings and fountains.
Further along this road (about 1 km) we came to a delightful oasis in the former church rectory.
As you can see, it is a wonderful spot for a light lunch.
After lunch, we took time to explore Algonquin Island, across the wooden bridge.
On Ward’s Island, the streets are sidewalks.
Then we boarded the ferry for the trip back to the mainland. A beautiful view of the Toronto skyline is to be had from the deck of the ferry.
Probus Club of Kingsway-Islington 