Parry Sound

Parry Sound is a city in Northern Ontario.

Understand

Parry Sound is a town in Northern Ontario (just barely), on the eastern shore of Georgian Bay in the Heart of the 30,000 Islands. It is located roughly half way between Toronto and Sudbury. Parry sound itself has approximately 6500 residents and 21,150 in the Parry Sound area. The town is a popular summer cottage destination for Torontonians, increasing its seasonal population. It is also the world's deepest natural freshwater port.

History

Long before the European explorers, Parry Sound was inhabited by the Ojibwe who referred to it by Shining Shore. Captain Henry Bayfield surveyed its waters in the 19th century and named the town after the Arctic explorer Sir William Parry. Years later, rail service made Parry Sound a valued depot along the rail lines to Western Canada.

During the early part of the 20th century, Parry Sound attracted artists such as Tom Thomson and others from the Group of Seven. Historically, the town competed with a nearby rival lake port at Depot Harbour; that community is now a ghost town.

Get in

By car

Parry Sound is 225 km (140 miles) north of Toronto on Highway 400; exit on Bowes Street (exit 224). From Sudbury and the Trans-Canada Highway mainline, go 160km (100 miles) south on Highway 69 (2hr 15 min) to Parry Sound Drive.

By bus

Ontario Northland Motor Coach Services run buses daily from Toronto, en route to Sudbury.

By train

Via Rail provides passenger rail service 2-3 times a week on its line between Toronto and Vancouver, stopping at 🌍 Parry Sound railway station.

By plane

• 🌍 Parry Sound Area Municipal Airport (YPD  ^IATA), ☎ [phone]. 12 nautical miles southeast of Parry Sound. No scheduled flights. (updated Dec 2018)

Scheduled flights are available 185 km away at the Greater Sudbury Airport (YSB ^IATA).

Get around

• Parry Sound Taxi, ☎ [phone]. 
• Ivy's Taxi, ☎ [phone]. 

See

• Bobby Orr Hall of Fame, Two Bay St, ☎ [phone] ext 202. 60 trophies and awards, interactive games. Learn about Bobby's Orr's Legendary Hockey career. 
• 🌍 West Parry Sound District Museum, 17 George St, ☎ [phone]. 

Do

The Seguin Trails are perfect for a hike or a bike ride. You can also stretch your legs and take in the sites along the Waterfront Fitness Trail.

• 🌍 Charles Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts, 2 Bay St, toll-free: [phone] ext 208. Live performances in a magnificent 480-seat Festival Performance Hall designed by acoustical engineers. 
• 🌍 Bear Claw Tours, 35 Shoebottom Rd, ☎ [phone]. ATV guided tours. 
• 🌍 Georgian Bay Airways, 11A Bay Street, Town Dock, toll-free: [phone]. A modern fleet of seaplanes operate from Parry Sound’s downtown waterfront. 
• 🌍 The Ridge at Manitou Golf Course, 160 Inn Rd, ☎ [phone]. Golf amidst 300 acres of unspoiled nature. 
• 🌍 Spirit of the Sound Schooner Company Ltd., RR# 2, toll-free: [phone]. M.V. Chippewa III offers several 30,000 Islands cruises and menus. 
• Park to Park Trail, 70 Church St, toll-free: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 230-km multi-use trail connects Killbear to Algonquin Provincial Park and cuts across the Canadian Shield. 
• Seguin Valley Golf Club, 144 Badger, Otter Lake, ☎ [phone]. 
• Diver's Nook. A fully stocked SCUBA dive shop offering charters and air fills/equipment. They usually dive the shallow wrecks around the Sound, and a charter consists of two dives. 

Buy

• 🌍 Parry Sound Mall, 70 Joseph St, ☎ [phone]. 
• WildRose Designs Gallery, 17 Bay Street (Parry Sound), ☎ [phone]. The art of Ingrid Zschogner, pastel and pencil artist, (updated Dec 2016)
• Hemp Tent, 63 James St, ☎ [phone]. All-natural, Fair Trade and Canadian-made clothing, accessories, jewellery, body products, hemp foods and house wares. 

Eat

• 🌍 Bay Street Café, 22 Bay St, ☎ [phone]. Friendly service, view of the Georgian Bay. 
• Log Cabin Fine Dining, 9 Little Beaver Blvd, Seguin (3 km south of Parry Sound, Exit 220, Hunter Drive, 1 km south on Oastler Park Drive), ☎ [phone]. Rustic decor, varied menu, good seafood. (updated Dec 2018)
• Trappers Choice Restaurant, 50 Joseph St, ☎ [phone]. Daily from 8AM. Appetizers and light meals, including salads, sandwiches and burgers, full main courses specializing in steaks and seafood. (updated Dec 2018)
• The Country Gourmet Cafe and Gallery, 65 James St, ☎ [phone]. M-F 7AM-3PM, Sa 7AM-3PM, Su 10AM-2PM. Home-made soups, quiche, fresh salads daily, comfort foods, coffee, desserts, wi-fi, art gallery. (updated Dec 2018)

Drink

• Trestle Brewing Company, 9 Great North Rd, ☎ [phone]. Taproom and kitchen: M-Th noon-9PM, F Sa noon-10AM, Su noon-7AM; retail M-Sa 10AM-9PM, Su 11AM-7PM. A small, independently owned craft brewery in downtown Parry Sound on the waterfront where the Seguin River flows into the harbour with a spectacular view looking towards the CPR Trestle bridge and Georgian Bay. The brewery includes a taproom serving year-round beer offerings brewed on site and other seasonal special beers. The taproom offers a menu. (updated Dec 2018)

Sleep

• 40 Bay Street Bed & Breakfast, 40 Bay St (across road from boat cruises), toll-free: [phone]. Check-in: 3PM, check-out: 11AM. Waterfront B&B, 3 rooms each with own private bath, air-conditioning, free parking, WiFi, 24 hour coffee & tea station, guest fridge, bottled water. Full, hot breakfast; can provide for special diets. $125+. 
• Bayside Inn, 10 Gibson St, ☎ [phone]. 
• Bell Lake Cottages, 143 Hwy 124, toll-free: [phone]. 
• Comfort Inn, 120 Bowes St, ☎ [phone]. 
• 🌍 Craganmor Point Resort, McLaren Island, Seven Mile Narrows, toll-free: [phone]. 
• Four Winds Cottage Resort, 508 Hurdville Rd, ☎ [phone]. 
• 🌍 Georgian Bay Fishing Camp, 40 Isabella St, ☎ [phone]. 
• Canadas Best Value Inn & Suites, 48 Joseph St, ☎ [phone]. 
• Horseshoe Lake Camp & Cottages, R.R. #2 North Sandy Plains Rd, ☎ [phone]. 
• 🌍 Log Cabin Inn, 9 Lil Beaver Blvd., ☎ [phone]. 
• 🌍 Parry Sound KOA Campground, 276 Rankin Lake Road, toll-free: [phone]. 
• 🌍 Quality Inn & Conference centre, 1 J.R Drive, RR#2, toll-free: [phone]. 
• 🌍 Trailside Park, 105 Blue Lake Rd, toll-free: [phone]. 

Connect

Nearby

Depot Harbour

This abandoned ghost town, of which little remains but ruins and foundations, had been a busy Georgian Bay lake port as the western terminus of the Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway. Ottawa lumberman John Rudolphus Booth established a port and railway roundhouse on expropriated native land, building a railway to send trainloads of western grain through Algonquin Provincial Park to Ottawa on its way east to Atlantic ports. By 1898 the town had a hotel, rail yards, two large grain elevators, a school and three churches. In 1904, Booth sold the line to the Grand Trunk Railway for $14.2 million; in 1923, the bankrupt Grand Trunk became part of Canadian National. CNR closed Depot Harbour's roundhouse. The Welland Canal, a competing transportation route, was rebuilt in 1932. An ice-damaged rail bridge in Algonquin Park severed the line in 1933 and was never repaired. A World War II cordite maker in nearby Nobel stored its wares in the railway's dockside freight sheds; an August 14, 1945 fire and explosion destroyed much of the town. The docks, briefly used for coal shipments in the 1950s, later loaded pelletized iron ore from the Low Phos Mine at Sellwood. The last of the town's homes was abandoned in 1964; the mine closed in 1979 and the railway tracks were removed in 1989. The Anishinaabe natives reclaimed their lands in 1987, but little remains of the town except the loading docks, a bank vault and the foundations of what was once a village. One building remains in use as a cottage.

Go next

Routes through Parry Sound

Winnipeg ← Sudbury ←	W  E	→ Washago → Toronto
Sudbury ← French River ← becomes ←	N  S	→ Waubaushene → Barrie