Grimsby Beach is a small public beach park located within a tranquil neighborhood in Grimsby.

Its little beach faces Lake Ontario, and on a nice day, the city of Toronto can be seen across the lake.

The area is small and within a quiet neighborhood, so other visitors may not be seen while visiting.

The beach park used to be a place for a religious purpose, dating back to the 1800's.

There is a trail at a rise sandwiched between the beach and private houses.

The beach can be looked down on from the trail.

The trail is a little shady with trees.

Nearby cottages are little and colorful, so they are also interesting to see.

There are a few benches along the path on which visitors can take a rest and relax looking over the lake.

In the park, a sign can be found which describes a history of the area.

"People flocked to this beach for good times for the first half of the 20th Century. The Hamilton district of the Methodist Church group opened Grimsby Park in 1846. In 1910, Harry Wylie purchased the park to build carousels, a motion picture theater, and a "Figure 8" roller coaster. Canada Steamship Lines bought the park in 1916, but its popularity fell after fires consumed many of its wooden buildings. From the 1920s to the 1950s, park attractions gradually closed and developers bought up land to build cottages." (The Swim Guide)

"In the mid-1800s, a group of Methodists held week-long revivals during the summer. People would come and stay in tents on the grounds overnight and listen to preachers during the day.

In 1875, as the event became more popular and the revival grew to fill more weeks of the summer, the camp's organizers began replacing the tents with board-and-batten cottages.

...

By this time, even non-Methodists were coming out to visit Grimsby Beach, just to enjoy a day of picnicking and sports at the park. Vacationers came by train, streetcar and ferries from Toronto, Hamilton and all over the Niagara Region to picnic and play along the shore of Lake Ontario.

Grimsby Beach's attractions over the years have included two hotels, a restaurant, a heart-shaped garden, tennis courts, a sports field for football, lacrosse, quoits and exercise programs. New speakers came too, not all of them religious. People started calling it 'The Chautauqua of Canada.'

Unfortunately, Grimsby Park faced a crisis in 1909. The Methodist group managing the park went bankrupt. A new owner turned it into an amusement area. A midway, merry-go-rounds, a large roller coaster, dance hall, casino, movies and live theatre were added.

By the 1920s, the crowds were heading elsewhere. Then a terrible fire destroyed about 30 cottages. Around the early 1930s, local residents (the Cottages' Association) took over the park. The casino saw a bit of a revival during the big band era of the 1930s and 40s. Many of the other attractions shut down eventually, but people still came to enjoy the natural scenery of Lake Ontario." (Casey, 2018)

A variety of fauna could be found in the park such as squirrels in the woods.

Managed by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper

The park is accessible by wheelchairs, but it does not have its own parking area on site.

Community Captured. (2018, February 20). The history of Grimsby Beach. Retrieved December 11, 2018, from

http://www.communitycaptured.ca/history-grimsby-be...

NiagaraThisWeek.com. (2009, July 16). Memories of Grimsby Beach: Reunion brings 122 former residents back to beach.

Retrieved December 11, 2018, from

https://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-story/3276453...

Swim Guide. (n.d.). Grimsby Beach. Retrieved December 11, 2018, from

https://www.theswimguide.org/beach/51?set_language...