Perth

Perth was founded in 1816 as a military settlement, taking discharged soldiers and Scottish immigrants after the Napoleonic wars, and the stonemasons among them built in local limestone; the result is one of the best preserved nineteenth-century stone streetscapes in Ontario, with Gore Street and the Tay basin at its centre. In 1833 two law students, Robert Lyon and John Wilson, fought a duel over remarks about a schoolteacher; Lyon was killed, and it is generally recorded as the last fatal duel in what is now Ontario. Wilson later became a judge. The Perth Museum occupies an 1840 stone house.

What you actually see

• The stone streetscape - limestone commercial buildings from the 1800s.
• The Tay basin - a canal basin cut into the middle of the town.
• The duel site - the ground of the last fatal duel in Ontario, marked.
• The Perth Museum - local history in an 1840 stone house.

When to go

May to October; the town is quiet year-round and works as a half-day stop. The Stewart Park Festival brings music in July. Autumn colour in the surrounding country is good.

Honest expectations

The town is small and mostly seen from the street. Museum hours are limited. There is little beyond the architecture and a few shops.

Nearby

Merrickville lies east; Ottawa is northeast.