Sir John A. Macdonald National Historic Person of Canada, Hay Bay, Ontario
Posted by: 
colincan
N 44° 06.073 W 077° 01.322
18T E 338160 N 4885102
Hay Bay, Adophustown, (actually in Greater Napanee) was family home for much of his youth to Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, before he moved to nearby Kingston for schooling and to later establish a law practice.
Waymark Code: WMEDDM
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 05/11/2012
Views: 9
Hay Bay, off the Bay of Quinte, is situated in the heart of United Empire Loyalist country. It is fitting that Sir John A. Macdonald, great champion of Confederation and the nation’s first prime minister, should trace a good part of his life to this region. Immigrants from Scotland, Macdonald’s parents tried life in Kingston before seeking a change of pace and establishing a clapboard wooden homestead in this idyllic setting by the tranquil inland waters. Young John would walk to the one room local school house in Adolphustown, a six mile daily round trip. But only for a short period. He was sent back for schooling in Kingston where he boarded and by age 15 John determined he wished to be a lawyer. In accordance with the practice of the times, he went off to article rather than to a college. He was to return on a regular basis to his parents’ home on Hay Bay even as his political career prospered and his law practice in Kingston gained in respectability. A federal plaque was erected here in his honour in 1927.
Classification: National Historic Person
Province or Territory: Ontario
Location - City name/Town name: Hay Bay, Greater Napanee, Ontario
Link to Parks Canada entry (must be on www.pc.gc.ca): [Web Link]
Link to HistoricPlaces.ca: Not listed
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