In our long history as a tourist destination, many visitors were able to rent a rowboat along the shoreline whether it be at the end of King Street as shown here (now Queen’s Royal Park), near the marina or along the beach in the Chautauqua area. These rowboats were handcrafted by boatbuilders in town, such as Jack Redhead. The museum is fortunate to have an original rowboat on display in our upper galleries if you wanted to check one out. As you can see, they came in a variety of sizes and as many as 45 could be rented out at one time. Fortunately, this tradition has been kept alive through the popular Paddle Niagara company. Hopefully we can continue to offer more waterfront activities for visitors and “put the lake back in Niagara-on-the-Lake,” as they say.
