Burgoyne Woods
This beautiful 122-acre wooded area and recreational park is located near the Downtown core. Paved trails are Wheelchair accessible and ideal for walking, jogging or cycling. Burgoyne Woods includes nature trails, sports fields, tennis courts, playground equipment, swimming and wading pools, a pavilion and lots of fabulous picnic areas. Access Burgoyne Woods by exiting from Glenridge Avenue to Edgedale Road.

Happy Rolph?s Bird Sanctuary and Children's Petting Farm
Read Road, off Lakeshore Road, just East of the Welland Canal
Telephone: 905-937-7210 (Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm)
One of Canada?s most exotic collections of flowering Rhododendrons can be found at Happy Rolph?s Bird Sanctuary, a 15-acre municipal park located on the shores of Lake Ontario. This is also the home of hundreds of native and migratory birds and resident waterfowl. A petting farm onsite operates from Victoria Day (May) through Thanksgiving Weekend (October). Pathways lead through the park to the lake, pavilion, playground and picnic facilities. Read Road off Lakeshore Road, east of the Welland Canal.

Ontario Jaycee Gardens
This is the Garden City?s largest horticultural park with more than 21 acres of floral displays and landscaped grounds. This is the site of the city?s largest single planting of annuals and perennials and forms one of the most aesthetically pleasing garden displays in Niagara.

The land was originally part of the Third Welland Canal. The charm of Old Port Dalhousie, the calm waters of Martindale Pond and the Royal Canadian Henley Rowing Course can all be viewed from the northern perimeter of the park grounds. Enjoy discovering the remnants of the Third Welland Canal located within the park. The original lock wall, with bollards still intact, as well as, the wooden pilings from the first dock cribbing is in the northeast corner of the park. Located on Ontario Street, north of the QEW, south of Lakeport Road (follow the signs to Port Dalhousie).

Montebello Park
This unique and historically significant 6.5-acre park lies on the fringe of our Downtown core. The commemorative rose garden with over 1,300 bushes in 25 varieties is the city?s largest rose collection and features an ornamental fountain. Designed by the same architect that created New York?s Central Park: Fredrick Olmsted, the focal point of the park is a band shell and pavilion built in 1888. The park is designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. Picnic tables, washrooms, play equipment and walking paths are scattered throughout the park. Located at the corner of Lake and Ontario Streets in Downtown St. Catharines.

Short Hills Provincial Park
Telephone 905-562-4147
A 688-hectare (1,700 acre) natural environment park featuring established trails for hiking, cycling and horseback riding. Carolinian Forests in the park are protected for their ecological significance. The park trails link to the Niagara Escarpment?s Bruce Trail. Open seven days a week, sunrise to 10pm. Parking facilities off Pelham Road with trail access.

Stokes Seeds Flower Trial Gardens
Telephone: 905-688-4300
Open all year round, Stokes? gardens are particularly captivating in July and August when mass plantings of flower varieties in bloom cover acres of the farm creating seas of colour. This is one of the official sites of the All-American Trials Gardens. Follow Lakeshore Road between Seventh and Fifth Streets towards Port Dalhousie.

Walker Arboretum
Telephone: 905-684-2925.
Located at Rodman Hall Arts Centre. The original owner of this estate, Thomas Rodman Merritt, hired Samuel Richardson, a landscape designer from England, to tend the grounds. The result was an extensive, rambling garden with paths traversing the hillside above Twelve Mile Creek a restful haven, a retreat in the heart of the city. The gardens enjoy an exceptionally mild climate that shelters an eclectic collection of exotic trees, azaleas, rhododendrons, miniature conifers along with a spectacular display of daffodils and peonies in the spring. It boasts one of the largest Empress trees (from China) in Canada. Take a few moments to enjoy this little known ?secret garden? located at 109 St. Paul Crescent (off St. Paul Street West)

Hiking, Walking and Cycling Trails

The St. Catharines section of the 325-kilometre Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail, is approximately 9-kilometres, stretching from Port Weller to Port Dalhousie, making use of a combination of City parks and roadways to access as much of the lakefront as possible. It is a multi-use trail suitable for both cyclists and hikers. Attractions along the trail include the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta Course, Port Dalhousie Harbour Walkway, Lakeside Park and Loof Carousel, beaches, the Welland Canal and Happy Rolph?s Bird Sanctuary.

The Bruce Trail is Canada?s oldest and longest hiking trail following the Niagara Escarpment (designated as a UNESCO World Biosphere) from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Tobermory. A 20-kilometre section with associated side trails winds through St. Catharines and provides access to this priceless natural treasure. Points of interest along the route include Short Hills Provincial Park, Morningstar Mill, the historic Welland Canals and more. Call the Bruce Trail Association 905-529-6821 to order the Bruce Trail Reference Guide.

Short Hills Provincial Park is a 688-hectare (1,700 acre) natural environment park featuring established trails for hiking, cycling and horseback riding. Carolinian Forests in the park are protected for their ecological significance. The park trails link to the Niagara Escarpment?s Bruce Trail. Open seven days a week, sunrise to 10 p.m. Parking facilities off Pelham Road with trail access. Call 905-562-4147 for information.

The multi-use Welland Canals Parkway Trail provides an uninterrupted 9-kilometre paved path for non-motorized traffic including hiking, jogging, rollerblading and cycling. It makes its way from the Flight Locks in south St. Catharines, north to the Welland Canals Centre at Lock 3. The trail then travels along the water?s edge on to Lock 1 with links to Mary Malcomson Park and the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail. There are picnic facilities and attractions along the trail. Call 905-984-8882 extension 244 to order a copy of the Welland Canals Corridor map.

The Merritt Trail is a segmented 11-kilometre trail that passes many of the old sections of the second Welland Canal and remnants of the locks with its stone dust path is ideal for foot travellers and bicyclists alike.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Niagara Symphony
Telephone: 905-687-4993
Sean O?Sullivan Theatre Brock University.

Chorus Niagara
A 100-voice choir

Niagara Artists? Company  is an artist-run centre in downtown St. Catharines that provides edgy contemporary art exhibits and installations, along with regular exhibits by Niagara artists.

Rodman Hall Arts Centre at Brock University is a public art gallery housed in the historic Thomas Rodman Merritt House, presenting the work of local, national and international artists in a series of year-round exhibits.

Centre for the Arts at Brock University
500 Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines
Telephone: 905-688-5550 extension #3251

DOWNTOWN
The Downtown area was formerly a storehouse for goods situated at the crossing of an Iroquois trail over Twelve Mile Creek. Curving First Nations trails formed the foundation of the downtown city streets and this remains one of the only curving main streets in all of North America. The trail slowly evolved with the community into St. Paul Street, the backbone of Downtown St. Catharines. The construction of the first and second Welland Canals behind St. Paul Street quickly elevated the area into a prosperous hub for commerce and industry in the Niagara Region. Two hundred years of history has created a unique showplace of many heritage sites making the Downtown St. Catharines Historic Walking Tour a must. Featuring over 120 shops, boutiques and over 50 culinary establishments, as well as one of the oldest Farmer?s Markets in Ontario, Downtown, St. Catharines is one of Niagara?s most unique destinations.

Market Square
The market is located downtown in the heart of St. Catharines. It is one of the oldest farmer?s markets in Ontario, where local farmers have been selling their goods since the early 1800s. Open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday year-round from 5:30am to 4pm. This building is also the host site of special events throughout the year. Our Downtown Farmer?s Market offers the widest selection of freshly harvested produce and a superb range of locally produced products all in one convenient location in the heart of the city (Market Square, King and James Streets, Downtown St. Catharines). Call 905-688-5601 ext.1503 for more information.

Underground Railroad
Visit the ?Follow the North Star? exhibit at the St. Catharines Museum or call:
Harriet Tubman Centre for Cultural Services 905-682-0993.
92 Geneva Street, St. Catharines
For appointments at the B.M.E. Church contact June Harper at 905-684-4180 or visit www.freedomtrail.ca

St. Catharines was the final terminus on the Underground Railroad for hundreds of slaves in the 1820s. The Underground Railroad and Niagara?s Freedom Trail was a network of people who hid and guided black slaves as they fled the U.S. and headed north to Canada to seek freedom. Follow the Freedom Seeker signs and connect with history as you retrace the route they followed.

It begins at ?The Crossing?, which is located along the Niagara River by historic Fort Erie and ends at the B.M.E. (British Methodist Episcopal) Church/Salem Chapel. This national historic site, through its association with the famed ?Underground Railroad? conductor Harriet Tubman, was an important place of abolitionist activity. She was called the ?Black Moses? and graced St. Catharines with her presence for ten years. Her abolitionist activities and formation of societies assisted former slaves in adjusting to their new life in freedom.

Prominent businessmen and abolitionists William Hamilton Merritt and Oliver Phelps, helped the new citizens purchase land to build the British Methodist Episcopal Church, Salem Chapel in 1855 and later the Zion Baptist Church. A provincial plaque honours the memory and gravesite of Rev. Anthony Burns, the last person tried under the Fugitive Slave Act in Massachusetts, a verdict that returned him to slavery and incited street riots. Boston abolitionists bought his freedom and financed his education before he settled in St. Catharines.

Old Port Dalhousie Harbour
Come explore the Port where most of St. Catharines? maritime heritage begins. Home of the first three canals, Port Dalhousie was a Mecca for sailors and tourists at the turn of the century and still is today. Originally this village was a plot of land granted to Captain Peter Ten Broeck for his services rendered to England during the American Revolution. It was later renamed for the Governor General of Canada: The Earl of Dalhousie. In the early 1900?s Port Dalhousie entered her heydays thanks to the connection of the electric trolley that ran from St. Catharines (now Downtown St. Catharines) and the steamers from Toronto. During the summer months, Lakeside Park was jammed with cottagers, sunbathers and picnickers. Moonlight cruises on the steamers, seaplane rides for the daring and park amenities including concessions, rides and the Looff Lakeside Park Carousel all contributed to the popularity of the village. Port Dalhousie?s Heritage District features 18th Century lighthouses, 19th Century homes and the vintage carousel located on the beach.