Harrowsmith, Ontario

Harrowsmith

Harrowsmith is a community in South Frontenac, Ontario, Canada. Located north of Kingston, it was once noted for the cheddar cheese produced by the Harrowsmith Cheese Factory. As a farming village in an area resettled by many back-to-the-land emigrants from urban areas in the 1960s–1980s, the village gave its name to the country living magazine Harrowsmith.

The village was once the junction of the Bay of Quinte Railway and the Kingston and Pembroke Railway. These rail lines eventually came under Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) ownership respectively. The Harrowsmith railway station had a livestock pen, facilitating the transportation of livestock by rail.[1] Both lines saw eventual abandonment and conversion into rail trails known as the Cataraqui Trail and the K&P Rail Trail, which still meet each other at Harrowsmith as their railway predecessors did.[2] Normally a quiet farming village, the inaugrual Line Spike music festival was held in a hay field just east of the town in 2025, drawing thousands of attendees to the 2-day event that was headlined by Burton Cummings and Walk Off The Earth. The festival drew its name from the defunct railways next to which it occurred.[3][4]

Harrowsmith is home to Centennial Park, a large park adjacent to Road 38 which includes soccer fields, baseball diamonds, play structures and hosts many community activities.[5]

44°24′19″N 76°39′53″W / 44.40528°N 76.66472°W / 44.40528; -76.66472[6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harrowsmith, Ontario.
  1. ^ "C.N.Rys. Smiths Falls Subdivision". CNR-in-Ontario.com. July 26, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  2. ^ "Regional Trail Network". Friends of the Cataraqui Trail. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  3. ^ Hall, Bill (June 28, 2025). "Music festival in Harrowsmith loses liquor license, opens gates for free Burton Cummings show". The Kingston Whig Standard. Archived from the original on July 1, 2025. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  4. ^ Ken, Hashizume (July 2, 2025). "Line Spike hits a snag on the eve of the festival". The Kingston Daily. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  5. ^ "Parks and Green Spaces". 2 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Harrowsmith". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved November 19, 2010.


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