Description of Historic Place

Carrying Place of the Bay of Quinte National Historic Site of Canada is located on the isthmus at the west end of the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario. The site, at the intersection of the Trenton and Carrying Place roads, marks the location where Sir John Johnson and the Chiefs of the Mississauga negotiated a treaty in 1787. The site is comprised of a small plot of land owned by Parks Canada Agency containing a solitary Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada cairn and plaque. Official recognition refers to the property owned by Parks Canada.

Heritage Value

Carrying Place of the Bay of Quinte was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1929 because:
- it was the site where, in September 1787, Sir John Johnson and Chiefs of the Mississauga negotiated for the ceding of lands enclosing a river and portage route between Lake Ontario and Lake Huron.

In the 1780s, Loyalist settlements along the St. Lawrence River and in the Niagara region were separated by Mississauga lands. While the British Crown possessed much of the lands from Toronto to Lake Simcoe, they wished to join the St. Lawrence and Niagara settlements. As a result, the Governor General, Lord Dorchester, sent the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Sir John Johnson, to negotiate a treaty with the Chiefs of the Mississauga at Carrying Place, an isthmus separating the Bay of Quinte from Lake Ontario. The treaty was signed in 1787 and purchase of the land was completed in 1788.

Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, May 1929, October 2007.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements contributing to the heritage value of this site include:
- its location on the isthmus between the Bay of Quinte and Lake Ontario;
- its even, semi-rural setting at the intersection of two county roads, where the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada cairn and plaque are located;
- the integrity of any surviving or as yet unidentified archaeological remains which may be found within the site in their original placement and extent.