Shipwrecked floating restaurant looks straight out of a pirate movie

But by 1912, the campground company was bankrupt and sold the property for an amusement park with a carousel, miniature railway, roller coaster and shooting gallery. In 1916, Canada Steamship Lines bought the park and added it to its growing list of amusement grounds.

But Canada Steamship Lines dropped its park system in the 1950s, fires destroyed the hotels and many of the tiny cottages and the temple was demolished. In 1939 the QEW opened its four lanes to through traffic and tourists began to bypass the site on the way to more colourful places like Niagara Falls.

Lined with tiny colourful houses, the narrow lanes with names like Auditorium Circle and Temple Lane are now part of Grimsby’s urban area, but they remain an unusual enclave that recalls an earlier, simpler era. Access is via Bartlett Avenue from the QEW.

Less than 20 minutes away is perhaps the most arresting sight of the Niagara Peninsula; the bizarre shipwreck that rests on the rocks at Jordan Harbour, in full view of drivers on the busy Queen Elizabeth Way.

The wreck looks like it’s straight out of a pirate movie, with its three tall masts leaning towards the waves. La Grande Hermine, as it was later known, was built in 1914 in Lauzon, Quebec. It served as a ferry to cross the St. Lawrence River and later served as a cargo ship. In 1991 it became a floating restaurant, redesigned to resemble one of Jacques Cartier’s ships, La Grande Hermine, which brought the explorer to Canada in 1535.

It is alleged that the owners, in an effort to avoid unpaid moorage fees in Quebec, towed the vessel to Lake Ontario in 1997 and planned to turn it into a restaurant again. However, neither funds nor permission were forthcoming, and so the ship was simply abandoned. Six years later it was gutted by fire. Today, the 50-metre-long relic still lists on the rocks, in plain view of the six lanes of speeding traffic on the QEW. The best views and photo ops are from a small dirt parking lot beside the Beacon Harbourside Hotel and Suites on Beacon Boulevard. On the opposite bluff sits the popular fine dining restaurant, the Lakehouse. To reach the location, exit the QEW at Victoria Street in Vineland.