South Frontenac Walking Tours

South Frontenac has a long rich history full of old hotels, mills, mines and beautifully built houses.

Written and researched by South Frontenac's Heritage Advisory Committee, we have two walking tours to offer residents and visitors of South Frontenac. Colour booklets for the Sydenham Walking Tour and the Verona Walking Tour are available for pick-up at the following locations or you can take a virtual tour (links below):

South Frontenac Town Hall (4432 George St., Sydenham)
South Frontenac Museum (5595 Road 38)
County of Frontenac Office (2069 Battersea Rd., Glenburnie)
Kingston Frontenac Public Library:
- Sydenham branch (4412 Wheatley St., Sydenham)
- Storrington branch (Storrington Centre, 3910 Battersea Rd., Sunbury)
- Hartington branch (Princess Anne Community Centre, 5597 Road 38, Hartington)

Sydenham Walking Tour

The current community was originally named Sloat’s Landing, for Michael Sloat, who received a land grant here in the 1790's. Other settlers soon followed, attracted by the sheltered valley with good farmland nearby. The site also offered a small creek flowing into Sydenham Lake that could be dammed and used for waterpower for saw and grist mills and other industries.

In the 1800's the village flourished and was renamed Sydenham in honour of Lord Sydenham, a wealthy British merchant and politician who served as Governor-General of the Canadas from 1839 until his death in Kingston in 1841.

Read More - Take the Virtual Tour

Verona Walking Tour

Verona, located in the central part of the former Portland township, was the commercial hub of the region in the 1950s. Surrounded by primarily farming communities, Verona was where people did their banking, went to church, and bought their groceries, dry goods, hardware and other necessities of life. They came to socialize, too, since not every home had a telephone, or even electricity in the more rural areas. Television was new, and only one or two homes had one.