Canada's first municipal geoheritage park.
Metcalfe Geoheritage Park is located beside the Mississippi River in Almonte, Ontario – near the Mississippi River Power Corp hydro plant at the west end of Mill Street.
Pick Up a Brochure When You Visit
The colour brochure with site map is your guide to the specimens we’ve selected to tell the story of our local geology. The 22 specimens on permanent display are sedimentary rocks of Ordovician age from our area, about 500 to 450 million years old, as well as both igneous and metamorphic rocks of Precambrian age, from about 2.5 billion to about 1 billion years old, that the last glacier dropped off. A visit to the Park will take you on a journey far back in time to colliding continents, towering mountains, changing ocean depths, and a landscape locked in ice.
There is also a black and white leaflet for our guest rocks. This section of the Park is for the temporary display of other specimens that have been collected close to home or at distant locations.
History of the Park
Metcalfe Park, at the bottom of Bay Hill In Almonte, Ontario was named in honour of Dr. Archibald Metcalfe (1869-1962), local physician for 63 years, town councilor and Mayor (at least 7 terms), and the driving force to establish the Almonte hydro electric generating station.
The creation of a geological display at Metcalfe Park in Almonte was first proposed in 2004 as the Almonte Geoheritage Project. It developed from an April 23 presentation, as part of the Almonte Lectures series. Dr. J. Allan Donaldson, Professor Emeritus, Carleton University, and founder of Friends of Canadian Geoheritage, spoke on the topic of geoheritage.
Through the efforts of Dr. Donaldson and community volunteers in Almonte, plans for a geological display evolved during subsequent meetings with the Council. Other organizations soon offered their support. With the enthusiastic endorsement of Councillors, the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists, the Mississippi Mills Chamber of Commerce, and relatives of Dr. Metcalfe, the Council of Mississippi Mills unanimously approved the proposal in 2008.
The Park’s development, which has attracted community interest and support, has been widely reported by local print and on-line media.
Comments and suggestions for improvements are always welcome. Please let our volunteers know how we`re doing by emailing geoheritagepark@gmail.com.
Website
http://metcalfegeoheritagepark.com/
Address
Almonte St, Almonte, ON K0A 1A0
geoheritagepark@gmail.com
