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Highway 7 · KM 190 from Ottawa
Madoc
Gold-rush history and a proper bakery-and-diner stop.
↳ Eldorado · 10 min north on Hwy 62
Why stop
Madoc is the west end’s honest lunch stop: a compact main street a minute off the highway with the kind of bakery-and-diner lineup that long drives are built around. It’s also where the corridor’s mining history gets interesting — Ontario’s first gold rush happened just north of here at Eldorado in 1866, and the back roads still carry the names to prove it.
For the powersports crowd, Madoc is a key access point to the Hastings Heritage Trail, the old rail line running north–south through the county — 150-plus kilometres from Glen Ross up to Lake St. Peter, and a major ATV and snowmobile artery. The scenic Centre Hastings loop runs alongside Madoc, Marmora and Stirling — a proper day ride with lunch stops built in.
A one-day country fair at the Madoc fairgrounds — the west end's late-summer agricultural tradition.
See & Do
Moira Lake Park
The local swim, just south of town — with a water record so clean the health unit stopped routine testing. Best endorsement a lake can get.
Checked Jul 2026 · municipal sources
Hastings Heritage Trail
150-plus kilometres of old rail line from Glen Ross north to Lake St. Peter — the west end's ATV and snowmobile artery, with the Centre Hastings day loop (Madoc–Marmora–Stirling) starting from town.
Checked Jul 2026 · trail sources
Vanderwater Conservation Area
635 acres on the Moira River where the water cascades over limestone steps — 15 km of trails through cedar and hardwood forest, with picnic areas and generous parking. A short detour via Hwy 37, near Thomasburg.
A hand-built covered bridge and a cluster of real heritage buildings — schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, sugar shack — on 100 preserved acres. Buildings staffed 10–4 in summer; grounds open dawn to dusk year-round. Admission by donation.