Merrickville

The Rideau Canal was built between 1826 and 1832 under Colonel John By to give a military route from Montreal to Kingston that avoided the St. Lawrence and the American shore, and Merrickville grew at one of its lock stations. The blockhouse here, built in 1832 to defend the locks, is the largest of the four surviving on the canal and holds a museum. The village kept an unusual concentration of stone and brick buildings from the nineteenth century, now occupied by artisans, and it markets itself as the jewel of the Rideau. The canal is UNESCO listed as the best preserved slackwater canal in North America.

What you actually see

• The 1832 blockhouse - the largest surviving on the canal, now a museum.
• The lock station - working locks operated by hand as they were built.
• The stone village - nineteenth-century buildings occupied by craftspeople.
• The industrial ruins - remains of mills beside the canal.

When to go

May to October; the locks operate in the navigation season and are hand-cranked, which is worth watching. The blockhouse museum is seasonal. Winter brings skating on parts of the canal further north.

Honest expectations

The blockhouse and lock operation are seasonal only. The village is small and walked in an hour. Shops lean heavily to craft and antiques.

Nearby

Ottawa lies northeast; Perth is west.