Killarney is where the North Channel (above Manitoulin Island) meets Georgian Bay. It is south west of Killarney Provincial Park, a 363 square kilometre wilderness area created in 1964, about 100 km southwest of Sudbury. The hills around the town are topped with white quartzite crystals.
The town was originally a fur-trading post, and was first settled in 1820. It was a popular resting spot for voyageurs, midway between the French River and the North Channel, on their way to the St. Mary’s River to Lake Superior. The town’s post office was named in 1854 after a town in County Kerry, Ireland. The town was tied by water transport to Manitoulin Island until 1962, when highway 637 connected the community to Highway 69 and Sudbury. Killarney is now a quiet vacation town. The town now has marine facilities for 200 boats, that can handle boats up to 80 feet in length. Just offshore from the town is George Island.
Killarney Attractions
Killarney Museum
Commissioner’s Street
This pine log building displays early artifacts from the area and its founding families. Open from July through Labour Day Tuesday – Sunday afternoons and evenings.
Killarney Provincial Park
on the Killarney Road, Highway 637
This 363 sq. km. (140 sq. mile) provincial park offers superb canoeing on lakes and rivers, with shores covered with birch and pine forests. You can also see the white quartzite-topped La Cloche mountains which are formed from Igneous rock. A small forest reserve dating back to 1933 became the larger provincial park in 1964, at the request of the Ontario Society of Artists who painted in the area. This led the government to rename the largest lake in the park OSA Lake. Motor boats prohibited on interior lakes, but allowed on Georgian Bay. There are over 100 km of trails in the park.