Hawkesbury

Hawkesbury is a pleasant town of 10,200 people (2021) on the Ottawa River near the Ontario-Quebec border about midway between Montreal and Ottawa. English and French are widely spoken here. More than three quarters of the population is francophone, so it's not surprising that some people think that the town is actually called "Oxbury". A bridge crosses the river to the town of Grenville, Quebec.

History
Hawkesbury was founded in 1798, and named after Charles Jenkinson, Baron Hawkesbury.

Thomas Mears and David Pattee, two Americans, entered into a partnership in 1805 to harness the power of the lower Ottawa River and built the first sawmill on the Upper Canada side of the river. The town of Hawkesbury developed around this mill. Demand for timber during the Napoleonic Wars created a boom. The mill complex continued to grow for at least the next half century, and by 1870 it included 145 different saws and created over 35 million board feet of lumber per year.

Timber and pulp-and-paper industries have been supplanted by textiles, synthetic fibres, metal extrusions, steel, glass and plastics. Hawkesbury has also become the business and service centre of the county of Prescott-Russell, although Rockland has become the largest community. New developments today are happening due to baby boomers from Ottawa, Montreal and area purchasing some of the many new condos in town.

By car
South of Hawkesbury, Highway 417, a freeway, travels east from Ottawa and west from Montreal. Highway 417 becomes Autoroute 40, a freeway in Quebec. Between Ottawa and Montreal, Highway 417 and Autoroute 40 are part of the Trans-Canada Highway. To reach Hawkesbury from Highway 417, take Russell County Road 17 if heading westbound or head north on Highway 34 if heading eastbound.

The Long Sault Interprovincial Bridge between Hawkesbury, Ontario and Grenville, Quebec, means that Hawkesbury is within minutes of Autoroute 50, a freeway, and Route 148. Both enable travel from eastbound from Gatineau and westbound from suburbs north of Montreal.

By bus
Leduc Bus Lines, in partnership with OC Transpo, offers a commuter bus service to Ottawa and Gatineau. This service has been suspended (as of Jan 2021).

The town is served by two small private airports:
 * Hawkesbury Airport
 * Hawkesbury (East) Airport

Get around

 * Hawkesbury Taxi
 * MS Taxi

Do
At this point the Ottawa River is wide and good for boating and sailing. Nearby on the Rouge River, whitewater activities such as rafting, kayaking and canoeing are popular.

Hobbies
In Hawkesbury, there are several places where you can participate in leisure activities such as skating, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. There is a sports complex, the Robert Hartley Sports Complex, with exhibition halls, tennis courts, a swimming pool, indoor ice rinks, etc. However, there are several parks that allow Hawkesbury residents to participate in outdoor activities.

Here is a list of these parks:

Buy
Gas prices in this region are generally lower (i.e. 5-10 cents per litre) than in Montreal and Ottawa.

Connect
The telephone prefixes for Hawkesbury are 613, and the newer 343. You must dial the telephone prefix and the 7 other digits in order to call someone.

Cope
The Hawkesbury General Hospital provides health services for the region's population. It is the most recommended community hospital in Ontario according to the NRC Picker survey.