Chalk River (2006 pop.: 800) is a Canadian rural village part of the Laurentian Hills municipality in Renfrew County, Ontario. It is located in the Upper Ottawa Valley along Highway 17 (Trans-Canada Highway), 10 km inland (west) from the Ottawa River, approximately 21 km northwest of Petawawa, and 182 km northwest of Ottawa. Chalk River was a separate municipality until January 1, 2000, when the United Townships of Rolph, Buchanan, Wylie and McKay and the Village of Chalk River were merged.
Chalk River's area is environmentally pristine with extensive forests, hills and numerous small lakes all of which support a variety of wildlife typical to the southern edge of the Canadian Shield.
St. Anthony's Elementary School is the only educational institution in the community, instructing grades Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8. It provides catholic education to the children in the neighborhood, with a church next door. Students in higher grades are bussed to nearby Deep River.
The town consists mainly of detached houses with some townhouses and an apartment building. Local services include stores (DJ's Variety), a gas station, and two restaurants (Treetop and the Roadhouse). The Chalk River library, the Lions Hall, and the Legion all play an important part in the community.
Local recreational activities include hiking, fourwheeling, and biking. In the winter, snowmobile and cross country ski trails can be enjoyed. A skating rink and baseball diamond are also present.
Read more about Chalk River: History, Local Employers
Famous quotes containing the words chalk and/or river:
“Through throats where many rivers meet, the curlews cry,
Under the conceiving moon, on the high chalk hill,
And there this night I walk in the white giant’s thigh
Where barrren as boulders women lie longing still
To labour and love though they lay down long ago.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“Every incident connected with the breaking up of the rivers and ponds and the settling of the weather is particularly interesting to us who live in a climate of so great extremes. When the warmer days come, they who dwell near the river hear the ice crack at night with a startling whoop as loud as artillery, as if its icy fetters were rent from end to end, and within a few days see it rapidly going out. So the alligator comes out of the mud with quakings of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)