History and Heritage

Loyalist Township is home to First Nations peoples including the Haudenosaunee, Michi Saagiig, and Omámíwinini Peoples. 

Funded by local subscription, the Bath (Ernestown) Academy was one of the first schools in Upper Canada. The Academy was originally built in 1811 and rebuilt twice after being destroyed by fire. The current building dates from 1910 and has a heritage designation. The school has had a colourful history and served the public as a school, military barracks, township offices and library.

During the War of 1812, Bath saw some of the conflict very close indeed with the escape of HMS Royal George, the largest British warship on Lake Ontario, from a determined American fleet chasing her through the channel to Kingston's inner harbour.  The "Flight of the Royal George" culminated in the only American attack on Kingston during the war. It ended with a naval battle at Kingston between the American and British ships, supported by the shore batteries at Point Henry. This was the only time shots were fired from Point Henry in its history.  At the same time, the merchant schooner Two Brothers, belonging to the Fairfield brothers, was destroyed by fire in Bath's harbour.

September 7, 1816 was a significant moment in the history of the Great Lakes navigation when the steamship "Frontenac" was launched at Finkle's Park. It was the first steamship built for service on Lake Ontario! 

Legend has it that in 1823, Amherst Island was lost in a game of cards in Ireland by Catherine Bowes, daughter of Sir John Johnson, to the 3rd Earl of Mount Cashel. Consequently, much of Amherst Island continued to be farmed by Irish tenant farmers well into the 20th century.

On August 20, 1945, the robbery at gunpoint of the Royal Bank of Canada in Bath catapulted the lakeside village into national consciousness and into the annals of criminal history. The amount stolen amounts to over $5 million in today's dollars - then the biggest bank robbery in Canadian history. 

Unveiled in 1920, Wilton is home to the only Great War memorial in Loyalist Township. The Lions Club of Odessa and District, along with members of the Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics, honour the site and the fallen dead every year with a Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph. "Lest we forget".

In September 1984, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh visited Amherstview to dedicate the opening of the Loyalist Parkway and the memorial "gates" marking the Parkway before becoming the first visitors to tour Fairfield House, built by Loyalists in 1793.

The dry stone walls of Amherst Island, among the most tangible remnants of early Irish settlement, are considered one of the most significant concentrations of historic dry stone walls anywhere in Canada and have a heritage designation. The island hosts a regular international Dry Stone Festival where many creative new walls have appeared!

Pragmatically named after the many mills on the Millhaven Creek, the village of Millcreek was  renamed to Odessa in 1856 by its postmaster to commemorate the 1854 British siege of the Black Sea port at Odessa in the Ukraine during the Crimean War.

On January 1, 1998, the Townships of Ernestown and Amherst Island amalgamated with the Village of Bath to form one municipality called Loyalist Township.