Did you know that an Orleans intersection has an X-Files connection? That a modest Centretown apartment building was the site of an incident that helped spark the Cold War? Or that you will soon be able to go both ziplining and whitewater rafting within the Ottawa city limits? If you didn’t know these tidbits—or even if you did—read on for more quirky facts about Canada’s capital.
There’s a waterfall near Parliament Hill
It’s no wonder most people don’t realize that the roaring Chaudière Falls are within sight of the Peace Tower; for decades, various dams and buildings blocked them from public view. Recently, much of the site has been made more accessible, with viewing platforms and interpretive plaques on Chaudière Island. Some of the best views are protected with safety barriers, but still, they’re worth seeing.
Chaudière Falls has a storied history. Long a sacred place where the Anishinaabeg made offerings of tobacco to the river, it was later a major industrial site. In 1860, the visiting Prince of Wales shot the rapids on a timber slide. In 1892, the world’s first meal cooked entirely by electric oven was made with hydro generated at this site (courtesy of Ottawa inventor extraordinaire, Thomas Ahern). Today, Portage Power uses the falls to generate 84.6MW of electricity.
To check out the site, walk across the Chaudière Bridge, between the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa the new Zibi development in Gatineau. You’ll find more visitor information at the falls’ official website.
Ottawa-Gatineau has the world’s first interprovincial zip line
Speaking of Chaudière Falls: A new zip line across the Ottawa River, near the falls, opened in June 2021. On Interzip Rogers, thrill seekers can whiz along a cable 36.6 metres (120 feet) above the river. (Check out my post about my own adventure on the zip line.)
A ByWard Market shop showcases Black creators
A boutique called Afrotechture, in the ByWard Market Building, sells a huge range of products made by Black creators—everything from dolls dressed in clothes typical of different African countries to cranberry-sorrel compote you can serve with charcuterie. You’ll find bath and body products, jewellery, books, home decor items, coffee and much more. It’s all the brainchild of sisters Resa Solomon-St. Lewis (chef-owner of Baccanalle Foods) and Tracey Solomon (an entrepreneur involved in granola and coconut water companies).
A spy defected in Ottawa in 1945
The first hints of the Cold War emerged, not in Berlin or Moscow or London, but here in humble Ottawa.
On September 5, 1945, a 26-year-old cipher clerk at the Russian Embassy named Igor Gouzenko left the legation with 109 sheets of paper proving that the Soviets were running spy rings in Canada. He had decided to defect. Not trusting the police, he took his loot to the Ottawa Journal. In a decision that would haunt the paper for decades, the editors decided he was a kook and sent him home. So he went to the Department of Justice. In a classic case of Ottawa bureaucracy, a commissionaire there told Gouzenko that the place was closed and he should come back the next day.
After additional fruitless attempts the next day to get someone interested in his papers, a terrified Gouzenko returned to his apartment at 511 Somerset Street West. Finally, he got some police protection, just before the Russians battered down the door of his apartment. Eventually, the papers he had stolen at the risk of his life led to the arrest and conviction of a number of Soviet spies. You can still see Gouzenko’s apartment building next to The Beer Store on the north side of the street, between Bay and Lyon streets. (It’s the brick building with the little round windows.)
Speaking of spies…hello Bond, James Bond
Even James Bond made a fictitious visit to the capital. In a collection of short stories, For Your Eyes Only, Bond comes to Ottawa as part of his efforts to track down an ex-Nazi. He drops into the RCMP headquarters, then located in the Justice Building (239 Wellington Street). Author Ian Fleming described the building as “a massive block of grey masonry built to look stodgily important and to withstand the long and hard winters,” but it’s unclear whether he himself ever visited Ottawa. Some speculate that he may have come to the city while in Canada to attend Camp X, a wartime spy training school in southern Ontario.
There’s a sculpture garden in Cumberland
From spring through fall, you can hike on wooded trails past sculptures from around the world at the 4.5-hectare (11 acre) Humanics Sanctuary and Sculpture Park in Cumberland. The park’s creator has collected artworks that reflect various spiritual and societal themes, such as peace and unity, and placed them along the paths. You can learn more about the park in one of my other posts, 7 off-the-beaten-path road trips from Ottawa.
Sir Galahad has a monument on Wellington Street
Right in front of Parliament Hill, a charming statue of a young man dressed as Sir Galahad holds pride of place. The plaque below it tells part of the story: It’s a memorial to Henry Albert Harper, a 28-year-old man who died trying to save a woman who had fallen through the ice in the Ottawa River during a skating party in 1901. What it doesn’t reveal is that Harper was politician (later prime minister) Mackenzie King’s best friend, and that the heartbroken King organized the subscription drive himself.
Ottawa has lots of wineries
OK, so we’re not exactly Napa (yet), but there are a surprising number of wineries within the Ottawa city limits. They include Jabulani Vineyard and Winery in Richmond, KIN Vineyards in Carp, and Domaine Perrault and Vignoble Clos du Vully in Navan. Cheers!
You can go whitewater rafting in downtown Ottawa
Amazing, but true: You can climb into a rubber raft in Britannia, in Ottawa’s west end, and paddle your way through foaming rapids almost all the way to Parliament Hill with Ottawa City Rafting. (You’ll be able to see the Hill from the endpoint, near the Canadian War Museum.) En route, you can even jump off a cliff into the river—if you dare!
The truth is out there…in Orleans
For reasons I’ve never been able to discover—an X-Files fan in the city planning department or a developer’s office, perhaps?—there appears to be a connection to the cult classic TV show in the Orleans neighbourhood of Cardinal Creek. It might be odd enough to find a crescent called Scully Way in this quiet residential area. But when it crosses Mulder Avenue? Twice? Mind. Blown.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy my previous (very popular) post, 15 things you didn’t know about Ottawa.
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[…] I’ve covered a few of them already—including the Sir Galahad statue in front of Parliament Hill and the scenic staircase behind Parliament Hill—in my posts 15 things you didn’t know about Ottawa and 10 more things you didn’t know about Ottawa. […]