Havelock, Ontario

Havelock is a community in the Township of Havelock-Belmont-Methuen, Peterborough County, Ontario, Canada. It is located east of Peterborough on Highway 7 at Peterborough County Road 30 (formerly Highway 30) which connects Havelock with Brighton and Highway 401.

Havelock was named after British general Sir Henry Havelock. Its history began with an influx of settlers after Belmont and Methuen Township was surveyed in 1823, and was incorporated as a village in 1892.

Early settlers built their homes in an area of dense forests, numerous lakes and rivers within the rocky Canadian Shield. They survived by means of fishing, logging and farming. Later in the nineteenth century and continuing to the present, mining became an important economic activity. Early businesses in Havelock included a post office, store, bakery, a blacksmith and a millinery.

In 1881 the Canadian Pacific Railway surveyed a right-of-way through the area and a year later laid rails on a graded roadbed. In the fall of 1884, the first full passenger train stopped at Havelock, from Toronto on its way to Smith's Falls. Havelock was an important freight depot from the 1880s to the 1960s. The passenger service was terminated in 1985; the freight service east of Havelock ended, shortly afterward. The railway's activity today consists of transporting nepheline syenite and crushed basalt rock from two mines north of Havelock. The old railway station has been designated as a Heritage Railway Station, but has recently been changed into a restaurant. There is an ethanol plant that is currently being built on an old mining site just east of Havelock on Highway 7. The ethanol will be produced from corn and is a gasoline additive. The property will continue to process basalt rock for road and rail line construction.

In 1998, the Village of Havelock amalgamated with the Township of Belmont and Methuen to form the Township of Havelock-Belmont-Methuen. The permanent base population is 7,900. During the summer months the population base increases to 10,300 as seasonal residential property owners return to their cottages.

Havelock is the site of an annual country music festival, The Havelock Country Jamboree, in August.

The local post office on George St. services locals with lock boxes and 4 rural routes.

Havelock has a public school named Havelock Belmont Public School, or HBPS. It has about 290 students rangeing from Junior kindergarden to grade eight.