Flood Lime Kiln

On Saturday Ottawa was treated to a beautifully sunny day and Alain and I decided to take advantage of it, you have to at this point, with the weather getting colder and so much rain in the forecast. We loaded Kelly into the SUV and headed to the outskirts of town to a walking trail maintained by the NCC.

The trail leads up to the historic Flood Lime Kiln (owned by a man named Flood) and is one of the few remaining examples of an industrial lime kiln in Ontario. It was built in the late 1800s and was used to manufacture lime until around 1906, which was quite late when compared to other lime kilns. For those that don't know, lime was commonly used as both a building supply and household chemical - in mortar, fertilizer, white wash, plaster and more. The chemical was replaced in the early 1900s as portland cement was introduced from Europe.

This kiln was abandoned by 1906 and fell into disrepair. It was rediscovered in the 1970s and finally repaired and restored in 1999. I would assume archaeological excavations had occurred to some extent, but to the left of the site, where the original quarry was (and where Kelly, Alain and I posed for photos against the escarpment) there was a lot of historical material on the surface, including refined white earthenware.

I loved this site and was happy to see it preserved as part of the NCC walking trails system. Enjoy the photos...