A simple paddle-driven wooden ferry was a crucial driver of growth for what we now know as Trenton.
Two-hundred and thirty-two years ago in 1790, United Empire Loyalist John Bleecker became the first
settler on the west side of the Trent River. He built a trading post and home at the mouth of the river
and launched Trent Port’s first ferry service there.
Saturday at the mouth of the Trent in Riverfront Square a plaque was unveiled honouring John Bleecker, his second wife
Mary, and of course Bleecker’s Ferry itself.
The research and plaque was produced through a partnership between the Trent Port Historical Society, the Hastings County
Historical Society, and the City of Quinte West.
Wendy Ouellette of the Trent Port Society said Bleecker’s first wife was Catherine Meyers, a daughter of Captain John Walden Meyers,
the founder of Belleville. Catherine soon passed away and Bleecker married his sister-in-law Mary Meyers.
In 1807 John Bleecker suddenly died and Mary, along with her two teenage sons continued to operate the ferry service. She also
had a hotel to serve fur trappers, sailors, and lumbermen. The first licence to serve liquor in Trent Port was granted to her hotel.
Bleecker’s Ferry enabled the village to grow by bringing people, horses, cattle, and freight back and forth along the river.
It operated until 1834, when a government grant allowed a wooden bridge to be built across the river.
(Photo/Quinte News: left to right: ) Richard Hughes, Gary Nicoll, both of the Hastings County Historical Society, Mayor of Quinte West Jim Harrison, Wendy Ouellette of the Trent Port Historical Society, Jennifer Rushlow, Senior Tourism and Special Events Director, City of Quinte West.
