| Fenelon Falls | |
| Nickname: | "The Jewel of the Kawarthas" |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Pushpin Map: | CAN ON Kawartha Lakes#Canada Southern Ontario |
| Pushpin Label Position: | left |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 200 |
| Coordinates: | 44.5356°N -78.7369°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Ontario |
| Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name2: | Kawartha Lakes |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Established Date: | Unknown |
| Established Title1: | Incorporated |
| Established Date1: | 1874 |
| Named For: | Father Fenélon |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 1915 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | K0M |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | 705 |
Fenelon Falls is a village in Ontario, Canada, part of the city of Kawartha Lakes. Nicknamed the "Jewel of the Kawarthas," it has a population of 2,500 permanent inhabitants, which swells in the summer due to tourism and holiday cottages. Fenelon Falls is home to lock 34 on the Trent-Severn Waterway between Sturgeon Lake and Cameron Lake. It is primarily a tourist town and therefore is most active during the summer season. The main street of Fenelon Falls is called Colborne Street.
The eponymous falls are hidden from plain view, because the main road crosses over the river just upstream; however, the falls are easily viewed from a nearby restaurant or from a path on the north bend of the Fenelon River. The falls power a hydro-electric dam, which diverts some of the water flow.
Fenelon Falls, originally named Cameron's Falls, was renamed after the township, which was named after François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (not to be confused with his more famous half-brother of the same name), who founded a mission on the Bay of Quinté.[2]
The village of Fenelon Falls was incorporated in 1874. In 1876, the Victoria Railway reached Fenelon Falls. This line was taken over by the Midland Railway of Canada circa 1880, then absorbed into the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) in 1893. In 1885, construction of the lock between Cameron and Sturgeon lake began. In 1923, CN took over the former GTR, operating the line until the burning of McLaren's Creek bridge near Lindsay in 1980 cut off the north end of the Haliburton Subdivision. In 1983, the line was abandoned with the track being removed by 1984. The line eventually became a public multi-use trail. The Fenelon Falls Museum, open seasonally from May through October, is housed in the 1837 squared-timber home of James Wallis.