Lombardy, Ontario

Otter Lake is located within the Township of Rideau Lakes. The lake lies close to Highway 15 between the villages of Lombardy and Portland. Because Otter Lake lies more or less in a north-south direction, there are often some spectacular sunrises and sunsets that can be viewed from property owners docks, balconies, and decks.From the 1870s to the 1950s, the catchment basin was farmed. Some of the first families to settle the area during this period included Anderson, Frayn, Looby, Gillespie, and Wills. Igor Gouzenko, a cipher clerk at the embassy of the Soviet Union in Ottawa, is believed to have hide at a cottage on Otter Lake during October 1945 during his defection to Canada. Between 1953 and 1991, a large degree of naturalization took place with airphotos showing farmland being abandoned and shrub and tree cover replacing open fields. Camp Otterdale was founded in 1955 by the Harrisons at their family cottage on Otter Lake. Today, the development pressure is relatively high on Otter Lake with approximately 330 cottages and 4 commercial properties Otter Lake is not part of the Rideau Canal system. It is part of the Otter Creek / Hutton Creek Complex which is an area with a large north-eastern drainage pattern towards the mid-part of the Rideau River.The catchment area draining into the lake is about 36 square km and the shoreline length is about 20 km. The lake is 124 meters above mean sea level and is part of the Rideau River drainage basin. There are several parent streams flowing into Otter Lake and one primary outlet, which is Otter Creek, which meanders about 33 km before flowing into the Rideau River south of Smiths Falls.Despite its relatively small size, Otter Lake holds a large volume of water and is quite deep, up to 36 m at its deepest location and generally exhibits the characteristics of a mesotrophic lake although the deep bathymetry of the central and southern areas of the lake is more typical of an oligotrophic lake. As a result of its depth, the lake is one of the last lakes in the Rideau Lakes region to freeze in winter, and as a result, the lake is home to a large variety of water fowl.Lake Trout experienced extirpation from Otter Lake likely in the 1970s. There was a few attempts at stocking Lake Trout but they failed and the program was switched over to Splake in the 1980s and 1990s. Since the 2000s, the lake is no longer stocked with Splake primarily because of low oxygen in deep waters during the summer months. Otters experienced extirpation from Otter Lake in the first half of the twentieth century likely post 1930s. Anecdotal sightings suggested otters returned to Otter Lake in the mid-2010s with confirmed sightings in 2019 and 2020.Black rat snakes also experienced extirpation from Otter Lake in the fIrst half of the twentieth century likely post 1930s.There are numerous natural wetland areas around the lake that are important habitat. Most of these wetlands are classified as "Locally Significant" however some have not yet been evaluated or classified. Wetlands to the east of Otter Lake are classified as "Provincially Significant" and represent an example of "linked wetlands" which allow a more diverse population of wildlife.Otter Lake abuts the Frontenac Axis of the Canadian Shield on the southwest with part of the lake being underlain by carbonate rock. The carbonate rock on the northeastern shore of Otter Lake is some of the only examples of Cambrian rock in Ontario. Parts of Nepean Sandstone found at surface near Otter Lake form Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas Otter Lake is also fed by numerous springs although little is known about the volume or source of these springs. Overall, the water in Otter Lake replenishes about every four years by surface runoff, precipitation and springs.

The Rideau Ferry Yacht Club Conservation Area or Rideau Ferry Conservation Area was established along a 10 acres (4.0 ha) shoreline property on the Lower Rideau Lake. The former Rideau Ferry Yacht Club donated the property in 1976 to provide a public recreation area with access to the lake.

Rideau Ferry is a small community in Eastern Ontario, Canada, along the Rideau Waterway. Rideau Ferry straddles a narrow stretch of water joining the Big Rideau Lake to the Lower Rideau Lake. At Rideau Ferry, the south shore of the Rideau Waterway is located within the Township of Rideau Lakes in Leeds and Grenville County, and the north shore is located within the township of Drummond/North Elmsley in Lanark County.

The Tay River is a river in Lanark County in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Saint Lawrence River drainage basin and is a left tributary of the Rideau River. The Tay River watershed, covering a drainage area in excess of 800 square kilometers, is the westmost of the 6 recognized subwatersheds managed by the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.

The Tay Canal is the portion of the Tay River in the eastern Ontario region, providing a connection between the town of Perth and the Rideau Canal at Beveridge Bay on Lower Rideau Lake. The canal is 9.8 km (6.1 mi) in length and is operated today by Parks Canada as part of their Rideau Canal operations. At the entrance to the Tay Canal are two locks, Upper and Lower Beveridge Locks, which provide a total lift of 7.6 m (25 ft).

The Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario, a rail museum in a former CNoR station, stands on the abandoned right-of-way of a Canadian Northern Railway line which once led southwest toward Napanee. Established 1985 as the Smiths Falls Railway Museum, the RMEO works to preserve the 1913 Canadian Northern (CNoR) station and a collection of historic rolling stock, equipment and railway memorabilia.

Smiths Falls is a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada, 72 kilometres (45 mi) southwest of Ottawa. As of the 2021 census it has a population of 9,254. It is in the Census division for Lanark County, but is separated from the county. The Rideau Canal waterway passes through the town, with four separate locks in three locations and a combined lift of over 15 metres (49.2 ft). The town's name was previously spelled Smith's Falls, and the spelling Smith Falls has been used, but "Smiths Falls" is now the official correct form.

Elmcroft is a 19th-century house in Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada, built in 1895 by the town's mayor, Francis Theodore Frost, who also served as director of the local Frost & Wood foundry, as a Member of Parliament and as a senator. It is an example of Queen Anne Revival architecture.

Smiths Falls railway station in Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada is served by Via Rail Corridor trains running between Toronto and Ottawa. It is unstaffed, with outdoor parking, telephones and washrooms. Accessible parking, automatic doors and wheelchair access is available to the platform. However, as of June 2020 no wheelchair lift is available for boarding or disembarking trains at the station.22 surface lot parking spaces are managed by Indigo Parking. A pay meter is located inside the station; hourly, daily and monthly rates are available.

The CFS Carp Richardson Detachment was a military operated radio communications transmitter station linked by landline to CFS Carp located off Lanark County Road 10 East of Perth, Ontario. The detachment was built with a hardened two story underground bunker built to accommodate the Signals personnel needed to operate the transmitter in case of war, as well as a mess hall, sleeping quarters, offices, decontamination facilities, and its own power generation facilities. Its location was chosen to be far enough away from CFS Carp to ensure survivability in the case of a nuclear strike against CFS Carp, and to reduce the risk of interference from its twenty powerful radio transmitters.Separate radio receiver detachments were located and administered by CFS Carp in the region; the CFS Carp Almonte Detachment and the CFS Carp Dunrobin Detachment were linked to CFS Carp by land line also.

Murphys Point Provincial Park is a provincial park near Perth, Ontario, Canada. The 1,239-hectare (3,060-acre) park features natural areas prepared for hiking and skiing as well as access for day-use camping and water sports at Big Rideau Lake. Facilities include a park store, visitor centre and several "comfort centres", with flush toilets, showers and laundry facilities for the multi-day camper. The park also contains the restored early 20th-century "Silver Queen" mica mine, the ruins of a sawmill and several historic pioneer buildings including the Lally Homestead. This area was mined in the early 20th century, for mica, feldspar, and apatite. During the summer season, guided tours are offered to visitors who would like to see the inside of a pioneer-style mine. Lantern-lit evening ghost walks to the mine are also offered. The park includes five nature trails varying in length from the 1-kilometre (0.62 mi) Loon Lake Trail to the 6.5-kilometre (4.0 mi) Rideau Trail. The park is home to a variety of mammals, including deer, fox, mink, beaver, coyote, porcupine and otter. Many loons inhabit Big Rideau Lake along with five species of turtles, eight species of amphibians, and eight species of snakes, including Canada's largest, but harmless, black rat snake.

Black Creek is a stream in the municipalities of Tay Valley, Lanark County and Rideau Lakes, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It flows from an unnamed lake in Rideau Lakes to the west shore of Big Rideau Lake in Tay Valley. Big Rideau Lake, on the Rideau Canal, flows via the Rideau River and Ottawa River to the Saint Lawrence River. The stream has a drainage basin of 94 square kilometres (36 sq mi).