Ferris Provincial Park
- Shelley Irving
- May 4
- 2 min read
Submitted by: Shelley Irving
Hike reference: 9.5 km Ferris Provincial Park
James Marshall Ferris, an early Irish settler, acquired and cultivated this land in the 1800s. The farm thrived in a community that supported brickyards, lime kilns, and sugar houses. Remnants of these early structures can still be found throughout the park. In the early 1960s, the Ferris family descendants donated land to the Ontario government, and two years later, Ferris Provincial Park was officially established. Today, the park spans approximately 200 hectares with more than 10 kilometres of hiking trails, including the Ranney Falls, River Gorge, and Drumlin Trails that we will hike today.
The Drumlin Trail leads us through a mix of hardwood and cedar forest, tracing the ancient glacial drumlins that rise above the Trent River. On this trail exists sugar maple, American beech, white ash, and several species of oak, including red oak, white oak, and the regionally rare Chinquapin Oak, that favour limestone-rich soil. This blend of forest creates a scenic living showcase of Ferris Park’s ecological diversity and geological history. During springtime, lady slipper’s grow here.
One of the most distinctive features of this Park is its network of dry-stone fences, a legacy of the property’s 19th-century farming era. Built without mortar, these stone walls once divided fields, contained livestock, and marked property boundaries for the Ferris farm. In recent years, the Friends of Ferris and Dry Stone Canada collaborated with Ontario Parks on restoration workshops that use traditional techniques to stabilize and rebuild damaged sections, ensuring these walls remain a defining feature of the park for future generations.
In the early days of the park’s farmland past, sheep were driven into the river for a sheepwash before shearing — today it’s a picnic and river-edge stop on the 3.5 km River Gorge Trail.
The Ranney Gorge Suspension Bridge was conceived by the Campbellford Rotary Club as a way to enhance public access to the park while promoting tourism and community development. The project became a community-driven initiative, led by the Rotary Club with support from local partners and the Municipality of Trent Hills. When the idea gained favour, engineers from 8 Wing CFB Trenton—specifically the 81st Airfield Engineering Flight—joined the effort, adopting the bridge as a hands-on military training project. Groundbreaking took place on September 3, 2002, and the bridge officially opened in 2004. Spanning approximately 91 metres across the Gorge and rising about 9 metres (30 feet) above the Trent River, the bridge offers sweeping views of the gorge and surrounding forest. It stands today as a symbol of collaboration between the local community and the Canadian Armed Forces.
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