Hidden gems
Hidden Midland: what the harbour lists miss
The short lists say: butter tarts, boats, the mission. The gems are quieter: an inland lake park with a whole Wendat village in it, a hilltop lookout above the Wye River, and a boardwalk best walked at 9 a.m. Here they are.
The places the short lists miss
Little Lake Park is Midland's inland green, a short walk south of the downtown core: a treed park on Little Lake with the Huronia Museum at 549 Little Lake Park Road inside it. The museum -- Midland's own, founded in 1947 and housed since 1967 in the town's Canada Centennial building -- holds the town's history and art collections and stands beside its reconstructed Wendat (Huron/Ouendat) village, a palisaded village with a full-size longhouse that reconstructs Wendat life before European contact. The museum describes itself as open year-round; its hours and admission live on huroniamuseum.com, never frozen here, because the listings reached disagree on the current price.
The second gem is a view: the Martyrs' Shrine's Way of the Cross climbs its hill to a lookout from which the whole corridor reads at once -- the Wye River running out of Mud Lake, past Sainte-Marie's palisade, under the old trestle and Highway 12 bridges, and on to Midland Bay. Visitor accounts single it out as the Shrine's surprise, worth the climb for pilgrims and sightseers alike. the Martyrs' Shrine in brief: the Jesuits' national shrine to the Canadian Martyrs across Highway 12 from Sainte-Marie -- twin-spired wooden church, relics, 75 acres, lookout over the bay; founded 1926, May-to-Thanksgiving season, grid with the Shrine.
The forms of the outing
The inland park
Little Lake Park in brief: the town's inland park -- Huronia Museum (549 Little Lake Park Road, est. 1947) and its reconstructed Wendat village with a full-size longhouse; hours and admission with the museum.
The lookout
the Martyrs' Shrine, across Highway 12 from Sainte-Marie, is the national shrine to the Canadian Martyrs -- the eight Jesuit missionaries of Sainte-Marie who died in 1642-1649, canonised in 1930 -- run by the Jesuits at a Midland address. Its twin-spired wooden Shrine Church, built over a stone foundation, holds the relics of Saints Jean de Brebeuf, Gabriel Lalemant and Charles Garnier, and its grounds run to some 75 acres of gardens, chapels and a Way of the Cross climbing to a lookout over the Wye River and Georgian Bay. The Shrine was founded in 1926 -- 2026 is its centennial year -- and Pope John Paul II visited in 1984. Its published season runs from May to Thanksgiving weekend; pilgrimage days, masses and the season's grid live with the Shrine, and it is attributed to the Shrine on every mention here.
The early boardwalk
Wye Marsh in brief: 3,000-acre wetland centre at 16160 Highway 12 East (Tay Township) -- 25 km of trails, boardwalk, birds of prey, trumpeter swans; open 362 days; admission and tour prices on the Centre's own page. At the 9 a.m. opening the marsh belongs to the swans, the raptors and the first walkers: the boardwalk hour is the gem, and it costs only the Centre's ordinary admission.
The gem discipline
A hidden gem in this guide is a documented place the short lists omit -- never an invented place, and never a private or restricted place dressed as a visit. The Shrine's grounds are a pilgrimage place, visited on its terms and its season; the marsh is a conservation centre, walked on its boardwalks and trails. Anything else behind a fence or a farm gate is not a gem, it is a boundary.
The harbour's quiet end
the waterfront in brief: Town Dock and harbour at the foot of King Street -- Georgian Spirit sightseeing sailings and cruise-ship call days -- with Harbourside Park and David Onley Park along Bayshore Drive. On a non-call, non-festival day the waterfront parks empty out to dog-walkers and anglers, and the dock shows its working face -- the gem version of the town's front room, ten minutes from its famous one.
Common questions
What is Little Lake Park?
Midland's inland park on Little Lake, a short walk south of downtown: treed parkland holding the Huronia Museum and its reconstructed Wendat village at 549 Little Lake Park Road. It is the town's quiet counterweight to the harbour.
Is the Martyrs' Shrine lookout worth it?
Visitor accounts say yes: the Way of the Cross climbs to a lookout over the Wye River, Sainte-Marie's site and Midland Bay. The Shrine runs a May-to-Thanksgiving season on its published posture; its grounds are a pilgrimage place, visited on its terms.
When is the Wye Marsh quietest?
At its 9 a.m. opening and on weekdays: the Centre opens seven days a week, 362 days a year on its own page, and the boardwalk's first hour is its calmest.
More to explore in Midland
The header images on this page are illustrations drawn for Dayfari, not photographs. No verified photograph of the Midland places named here (licence and subject checked) could be attested for this version, so those places are illustrated or described in text only, rather than borrowed from another town.
If you book through these links, Dayfari may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.