Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Loyalist Parkway’s website has been revamped, giving a modern twist to the site dedicated to the historic driving route.
Under the guidance of the Loyalist Parkway Association, an outside web design firm was brought in to spruce up the website, found at LoyalistParkway.org.
“The website that the Parkway Association had was quite old, not used and people didn’t really know about it,” said John McCormack, a member of Greater Napanee council as well as Loyalist Parkway Association representative. “The previous chair, Ted Davey, and myself and some other members thought we should maybe spend a bit of money and revamp a new website.”
On the site guests will find a brief history of the Parkway, which itself is a memorial to the early settlers who arrived to the area in 1784. Stretching from Kingston to Trenton, the section of Highway 33 was officially dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II in 1984, noted by gates that can be found in Loyalist Township that mark the entrance to the route.
Along with covering the history of both the First Peoples and Loyalists of the region, the website also contains a comprehensive list of all the historic plaques located along the route and maps on where to find them.
“In the past the association would print brochures that was two models, one was east to west and the other was west to east, identifying the plaques along the route and historical places of interest,” said McCormack. “We found the brochures were getting a little dated as well and just trying to get into the 21st century we went with a new website.”
Pages on the website delve deeper into the specific history of each municipality that houses a section of the Parkway-Loyalist, Greater Napanee, Prince Edward County and Quinte West.
“The format is designed to work on a cellphone which is what people use today, so if somebody is stopped in Adolphustown, they can take their phone out and they could easily navigate through the site and find things like even Hay Bay Church, which is a couple of kilometres north of 33,” said McCormack. “The plan is eventually, maybe in a year or so, to try and get some funding from businesses that are along the way.”
The project is sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and aims to promote both history and tourism to the area.