An advantage of living in Brantford, Ontario is that we are centrally located - just an hour from anywhere. On Friday we took a short drive to Sand Hill Park, located between Port Rowan and Port Burwell along the north shore of Lake Erie.
For twenty years we've been exploring these back-roads, and have driven past Sand Hill Park countless times, but finally made a commitment to visit Ontario's largest sand pile after reading about it in Ron Brown's Top 100 Unusual Things to See in Ontario. Brown is the author of over a dozen books on Ontario's ghost towns and roadside attractions.
Towering more than 120 metres above Lake Erie, the sand hill has been growing and shifting for centuries due to the prevailing southwest winds. The wind is so constant that surrounding farm lands, once renowned as the tobacco belt, now harvest the wind. Only the crashing waves of Lake Erie drown out the constant whirring and whooshing of the gigantic three propeller turbines that are quickly dominating the landscape of Ontario's South Coast.
We found the privately operated Sand Hill Park to be an excellent and inexpensive day-trip destination. At just $6.00 per person (children under 12 free) we were able to tumble down the sand pile to a Lake Erie swim and provided with a pleasant setting for our picnic. If you are a camper the park offers various options for your tent or travel trailer.
If you are going, make sure to check out the coastal town of Port Burwell, where you'll find one of the last remaining wooden lighthouses on the Lake Erie shoreline, still accessible to the public for a birds-eye view of the area. The adjacent marine museum and nearby Port Burwell Provincial Park are also worth a visit.
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