Text from the Plaque
This region was among the first in present day Ontario to receive loyalist settlers following the American Revolution. Surveying began in 1783, and by the following year five townships had been laid out between the Cataraqui River and the east end of the Isle of Quinte (Kingstown, Ernestown, Fredericksburgh, Adolphustown, and Marysburgh). Loyalist refugees and discharged soldiers arrived to take up land grants in these five Cataraqui townships in 1784. That same year, Iroquois loyalists settled lands granted to them on the north shore of this bay. These and other loyalist settlements west of the Ottawa River prompted the British government to establish the province of Upper Canada in 1791.
|