The western point of the village of Gananoque, currently occupied mostly by parking lots, may be developed as a campus for a boat-museum. The site proposed for the new institution extends between Heritage Village (the existing visitor complex on the waterfront above the tour-boat dock) and the historic pump house near the public marina, which would be used by the museum. The larger water-treatment plant nearby would remain in present use.

In recent years the Antique Boat Museum at Clayton has been showing some boats from its collection at Heritage Village, Gananoque. Many visitors on the Canadian shore do not cross the border, particularly tourists from abroad (and there are more of them on the Canadian than the US side). The exhibit at Gananoque has provided this audience with a sampling of the full Antique Boat Museum experience. Benefits of this loan program have led planners to develop a proposal for an Antique Boat Museum facility at Gananoque.

Proposed Site Plan, Dick Strong, landscape architect.

The present Heritage Village, containing the Arthur Child Heritage Centre, appears at the lower right on the plan, above. The existing tour boat dock, not shown, would appear off the plan on the waterfront, to the right. The 1903 Pump House is the U-shaped building towards the top of the plan. The large Municipal Marina, not shown, would be off the plan above that. The larger building, colored red, is the present pumping station which would continue in operation, not becoming part of the project.

The proposal anticipates integrating the Heritage Village complex into the larger facility, while also utilizing the Pump House for boat building and restoration activities. The present park at the tip of the point would be retained in public use.

Although at first glance the site plan appears complex, the only new construction shown on the plan is a covered, in-water boat shed, built on the water side of the pumping station (that large structure not being part of the project), plus a fairly small exhibition building, shown on the plan in brown, below the pumping station. Its footprint is roughly the same size as that of the existing Arthur Child Heritage Centre.

The development would be considerably more modest than the Antique Boat Museum at Clayton, entailing only two new structures, although present buildings of Heritage Village would be used by the new facility. The proposal suggests phasing the project, as presented more fully in the consultants' report. There is also a project web site.

Municipal Marina, Gananoque, Ontario. Photograph courtesy of the Corporation of the Town of Gananoque.

The site of the proposed Antique Boat Museum, Gananoque appears in the photo above at the lower right. The large tan building there, partially covered with copper roofs, is the pumping station that would remain in use. The park and beach on the point likewise would remain in use. Heritage Village is off the photo, to the right.

Presented with this proposal, an initial question is asked: why two Antique Boat Museums, only a few miles apart? Paul J. Regan, Jr., President of the Thousand Islands Antique Boat Museum Trust (CDN), answers that the Canadian and American facilities would be not be duplicative or competitive. "ABM Gananoque and ABM Clayton would become an international institution with two campuses with the great advantage of some significant level of shared staff--curatorial, development and management. The entities would complement not replicate one another.

"ABM Gananoque would give great emphasis to boat building, restoration and education, deriving its influence and impetus from the long and rich history of regional (CDN) boat building over the last 150 years. Many could and do argue that the tradition has more richness and importance in the Canadian River community.

"Further, the Canadian campus would look to become an interactive, historical interpretive center of the River and the region. Great boats in and out of the water certainly, but more importantly an institution to educate and entertain.

"Finally, I would add the fact that the setting of the Museum and therefore part of our subject matter, is the River and the Thousand Islands--an international community which is informed by two commingling cultures--and that since 9/11 the reality of the border floating through that community has become concretized and almost impenetrable to the casual visitor to the Museum. Because of these facts we reach only 180 degrees of our audience, not 360 degrees, and as a result we are missing nearly 2/3 of our audience whose story we are telling."

At this writing the Antique Boat Museum-Gananoque proposal has been withdrawn. Paul Regan comments:

"The ABMG proposal was withdrawn following an implementing resolution proposed by the Town which was found to be most unacceptable. The Council, on January 15th 2008, voted 4-3 to approach the ABMG to resume negotiations. We have agreed to do so in good faith with only a modest sense of success that the proposal will achieve the required enthusiastic support from Gananoque Town Council."

Presently both Kingston and Brockville have expressed interest in the Antique Boat Museum Canada, if negotiations with Gananoque are not successful.