Your ultimate day trip guide to Manotick, Ontario

8.1K

Manotick, a Rideau River community on Ottawa’s southern edge, offers a haunted mill, ice cream floats, a dog park, nice restaurants—all within the Ottawa city limits. What more could you want in a day trip destination, really? You can even get there on OC Transpo…as long as you’re not in a hurry.

Manotick’s name likely comes from an Indigenous word meaning “island in the river.” Many visitors may not even realize that much of the central part of the community is built on a largish island in the Rideau River now called Long Island.

The area first drew the attention of European settlers in the 1820s, when Colonel By and his crew dug their way through to build the Long Island Locks on the Rideau Canal. However, it remained pretty sleepy until the 1860s, when enterprising types started building mills to capitalize on the river’s waterpower.

One of those entrepreneurs also built a grand wooden home in 1867 that is now a museum. Dickinson House (1167 Mill Street) belonged to three different families of mill owners in succession; the last one, Harry Watson, sold it to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority in 1972. Today, it’s done up to recall its Victorian heyday, and you can take a tour or drop in for a special event.

Manotick was amalgamated into Ottawa in 2001 but still retains some of its village charm—even as Barrhaven  and Riverside South creep closer and closer, and mansions increasingly pepper the edges of town. Annual events include the Manotick Miler run (May—see video below), Dickinson Days (June), Taste of Manotick (August), the One World Bazaar sale (fall) and Manotick Village Christmas (December).

If you’re outdoorsy, bring your gear when you come here for the day. The City of Ottawa has mapped a largely rural 56-kilometre cycling loop from Manotick that takes you through Kars and North Gower. There are also numerous places to slip your kayak or canoe into the Rideau River in and around Manotick, including the Long Island Lockstation (390 Nicholls Island Road). Motorboat owners can use the DIY ramp at the Long Island Marina (1424 Commodore Drive, Kars) for a nominal fee.

The Baxter Conservation Area (7498 Carter Road, Kars) has snowshoeing and hiking trails, a beach, and the Fillmore R. Park Nut Grove. Never heard of a nut grove? It’s a forest designed to help researchers understand the types of nut trees that can grow in a particular area. This particular grove is planted with about 100 trees representing some 30 species, such as hazel, beech, chestnut and locust.

Shopping in Manotick

Lindsay & McCaffrey (1160 Beaverwood Road, Unit 9) has been in business since 1933, so they know a few things about women’s clothes. Come for the chic casual wear—think linen tops, cotton sweaters, Liverpool jeans, Olang boots, Quartz parkas and accessories galore. In the same small mall you’ll find Mansfield’s Shoes (1160 Beaverwood Road), where the emphasis is on comfortable, practical footwear.

Another good spot for women’s clothing is NIN Collection Boutique (5528 Manotick Main Street), whose Canadian and European brands include Joseph Ribkoff, Lisette L, Ecla, Tuzzi and Junge.

Looking for gifts? Browse for aromatherapy supplies, crystals, tarot cards and other spiritual inspiration at Green Spirit (5558 Manotick Main Street), or everything from table runners and barbecue sauce to baby rattles and flamingo-patterned socks at nearby Lasting Impressions Gifts (5552 Manotick Main Street).

You’ll find scented candles and similar home décor items at Mill Street Florist (1136 Mill Street), a flower shop that has counted Elton John and Bill Clinton (well, their entourages, anyway) among its clients. If you have a green thumb, you might also enjoy hunting for pretty pots and indoor plants at Terra Plants and Flowers (1142 Clapp Lane), or loading up your car with annuals, perennials, river stone and more at Manotick Gardens & Landscaping Supplies (2709 River Road).

Manotick restaurants and food shops

Few dessert lovers can walk by The Gingerbread Man (1134 Tighe Street), a shop packed to the rafters with gingerbread houses and cookies, banana bread, ice cream, and other sweet treats. The store’s gorgeous, spicy aroma can probably be detected from space. (Update, November 2022: Sadly, The Gingerbread Man bakery was severely damaged by fire in November 2022 and is currently closed, but the owners hope to reopen in the future.)

Another popular spot with the baked-goods crowd is Mimi’s Donuts and Dairy Barn (1088 Bridge Street), where the raised donuts in flavours like crème brulée and cranberry-lemon merengue are made onsite daily and the ice cream comes from Central Smith Creamery near Peterborough.

To time-travel instantly back to your grandma’s kitchen, drop by The Miller’s Oven (1137 Mill Street) for breakfast or lunch. In this much-loved little tea room, run by a seniors’ group, you can nosh on shepherd’s pie, toasted western sandwiches and date squares to your heart’s content.

For a river view with your breakfast eggs benedict or evening burger, try the CreekSide Bar & Grill (5511 Manotick Main Street). The Mill Tavern (5544 Manotick Main Street) has a great beer list and a classic British pub vibe, while the Black Dog Bistro (5540 Manotick Main Street) has delish sandwiches, salads and sharing plates (I’m partial to the salmon burger, myself).

Across the street, the Vault Bistro (5539 Manotick Main Street), housed in a former bank, serves everything from chicken wings and smoked meat sandwiches to sushi cones, jambalaya and churros. And All’Antica Pizza (5530 Manotick Main Street) regularly gets raves from pizza connoisseurs for its Neopolitan-style pies made with imported ingredients in a wood-fired oven. The ever-changing menu includes vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices.

A bit out of town, Burgers and Shakes (5510 Limebank Road, which is technically in Gloucester but close enough) has been serving up a simple, classic menu for decades: fresh-made burgers, fries, poutine, onion rings and a few other staples, along with ice cream cones, shakes, sundaes and floats. If you want to shake yourself out of a chocolate or vanilla rut, try the Nutella, cotton candy or root beer ice cream.

Two kilometres further east, Bakkers General Store (1004 Manotick Station Road) has been selling European foods—such as British tea, Polish sausages, Russian caviar, Belgian chocolate and Dutch items of every description, including a dizzying variety of Delftware—for more than half a century.

Manotick’s haunted mill

Watson’s Mill (5525 Dickinson Street) is undoubtedly Manotick’s best-known landmark. Built by Joseph Currier and Moss Kent Dickinson (yes, he of Dickinson House), the large stone structure opened in 1860 and was touched by tragedy the following year.

In 1861, the newlywed Currier brought his 20-year-old bride, Ann Crosby Currier, to the mill for a tour. Unfortunately, the voluminous hoop skirts popular with Victorian ladies weren’t a good match for the unprotected drive shaft of a 19th-century mill. Ann’s dress got caught in the machinery and she was thrown against a pillar, dying instantly. Her devastated husband sold his share in the mill and left town.

Today, many believe her ghost stalks the building, gazing mournfully from the second-storey windows or stepping daintily down the attic stairs.

Whether or not you believe in spectres, the building is worth visiting. It’s one of the oldest gristmills still operating in Canada, and you can see the machinery in use during some tours. The mill also hosts concerts, craft sales, talks and other special events, and there’s also a small shop and a used bookstore. But if you feel a cold breath on your shoulder, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

A popular dog park

David Bartlett Park, so far north on Long Island that it’s practically in Barrhaven, is one of the city’s most popular dog parks. Whether dogs are allowed to go off-leash has been a bit of a touchy subject in the past, but you’ll certainly see lots of free-ranging pooches here—and, in warm weather, many water-loving ones taking a dip in the Rideau River. (Note that the park will be closed for at least part of 2021 due to a water main construction project.)

If you go

Manotick is 25 kilometres from Parliament Hill. You have multiple options to get there by car, including driving south on Highway 416 south (take exit 57), River Road or Prince of Wales Drive.

Given that Manotick is so close by, you’d think it would be a pleasant cycling trip from downtown Ottawa, but you’d be wrong. Most of the feasible bike routes include long stretches along the sometimes narrow or bumpy shoulders of busy roads. You can do it, but this is a ride for more experienced/fearless cyclists.

If you don’t drive, you can get to Manotick by OC Transpo, mainly via the Marketplace Transitway station in Barrhaven.

Looking for accommodations in or near Manotick? If you search for and book a hotel, inn, bed and breakfast, or other place to stay using the map below, I’ll receive a small commission—and I’ll thank you very much for helping to support this website. (Note that the commission is only for hotels; none of the attractions, shops and other places on the map generate any sort of fee for me. I’ve just included them to help you find the places I’ve mentioned in this post.)

Looking for more tips for things to see and do in Eastern Ontario, the Outaouais and beyond? Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter and/or buy my guidebook, Ottawa Road Trips: Your 100-km Getaway Guide, from which this post is adapted.