Brewer Park sits on the north bank of the Rideau River at Bronson Avenue, directly across from Carleton University. For Old Ottawa South, it’s the neighbourhood’s big backyard.
The pond has an interesting history. In the early 1960s, a wetland of three small islands in the river, known as the Bathing Islands, was turned into a swimming hole. The province closed it to swimming in 1971. In the 1990s, residents led a large project to naturalize the area: they planted thousands of trees and shrubs, turned an old parking lot into a meadow, and built a pedestrian bridge linking the park to Carleton. Today the pond is a quiet spot for birds and walks.
The rest of the park is busy. Brewer Pool has a 25-metre, six-lane pool with a sauna, and Brewer Arena has an ice pad. There are sports fields and a playground, and in winter, weather permitting, the park hosts an outdoor speed skating oval and smaller rinks. Under the Dunbar Bridge, there’s a legal graffiti wall that’s always changing.
Being next to Brewer Park is one of the reasons families like Old Ottawa South. You get a pool, an arena and a river park within walking distance, without leaving the neighbourhood.
Sources: Brewer Park, Brewer Park Pond and the City of Ottawa, Brewer Pool and Arena.
Photo by Dmitri Lytov, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.