Not only will you find some interesting ports of call along the shoreline of the smallest Great Lake, the beaches on Erie’s north shore are GORGEOUS.
We discovered our favourite at Port Burwell Provincial Park. There was hardly a soul on its 2.2 km of sand even though it was a sultry Saturday in early June. Obviously, the summer weekend crowds had not yet materialized. Port Burwell Park is one of several Ontario Parks you’ll find along the north shore of Lake Erie and all of them have beaches. We liked Long Point Provincial Park‘s beach too, where you can also camp among massive sand dunes. It’s part of a gigantic sand spit jutting out into Lake Erie that is recognized as a biosphere reserve and world-renowned refuge and stop over for migrating birds in fall and spring. While touring it with a park staffer, I couldn’t believe the chorus of songbirds. In nearby Port Rowan we heard how up to 20,000 Canadian and American boaters anchor off of Pottahawk Point on the Canadian side the second Sunday of every July in knee-deep water and hang out for the better part of the day drinking beer and catching up. The Pattahawk Bash as she’s known has been going on for more than 30 years. You gotta believe the OPP (provincial police) are all over this one.
The beach at Long Point Provincial Park. All the spring rain had left the water level high
Our two ports of call were Port Dover in Norfolk County and Port Stanley in Elgin County. Port Dover was hopping with lots of motorcycles rolling through town on a Friday night. Its Erie Beach Hotel is famous for its perch and pickerel dinners and it did not disappoint. Since there were only two of us we chose the hotel’s more sedate Terrace dining room downstairs.
The upstairs is a perch and beer affair perfect for groups of friends or family. Besides its famous fish dinners, our salad bar was memorable. Right out the 1950s, our own personal ” bar” came on wheels and had a variety of salads to choose from including homemade pickled pumpkin and jellied horseradish. Both were tasty.
Perch Tugs line the shore in Port Stanley Harbour
Port Stanley is a pretty beach town that is home to one of the last commercial fisheries on the Great Lakes. Perch tugs which are bizarre-looking all-steel boats line the harbour here. We stayed at the Inn on the Harbour where I had a perfect harbour view. Saturday night dinner was on the patio at the Kettle Creek Inn close by. It was a fine way to end a great weekend.
Early morning on Port Stanley public beach on Lake Erie
Great article! LOVE the north shore of Lake Erie. BTW, Inn On The Harbour and Kettle Creek Inn in Port Stanley where Judy dined and stayed are both part of a quality assured group of Inns, Boutique Hotels and Spas across Ontario. They have great last minute package – take a look: http://ontariosfinestinns.com/packages-LastMinute.asp
Thanks for adding the last minute packages to this post, Kathy. I’ve stayed at several of Ontario’s Finest across Ontario. We’ve enjoyed all of them.
Hello Glen
I just wanted to thank you again for allowing me to use your photograph of Port Stanley on an environmental booklet printed by the International Joint Commission, the 16th Biennial Report on Great Lakes Water Quality. I have a pdf of the front and back covers, and would like to send this to you or a pdf of the whole report. It was also printed in a French version. I credited roadstories.ca as the contributor. All the best to you. It was enjoyable just now to revisit your site here and see so many nice additions! I think I have your email from last January, which I’ll use to send these.
Hello, I design editorial / ads for Lifestyle Magazine in London, Ontario and I have been looking for a large image of the Port Stanley beach to use as a backdrop for a “Destinations” page. Your image of the beach in this article is beautiful. Would you allow me to use this image for our editorial? We would gladly give a photo credit. Please let me know and the image took me to this site which I will pass along. Thank you