Rural Centre Wellington

Rural Centre Wellington covers most of the township: about 39,000 hectares of farmland, woodlots and river valley around Fergus and Elora. The Grand River flows through it from Belwood Lake, past Fergus and on through the Elora Gorge, and Irvine Creek joins it at Elora. Belwood sits on the north shore of Belwood Lake, a 12 km reservoir with boating, fishing and water-skiing, and a spring-fed quarry with a sandy beach for swimming. Visitors can walk across the Shand Dam for a view of the Grand River valley below. Inverhaugh, whose Scots name means a river mouth and a low meadow in a river valley, and Ennotville are small hamlets among the farms. Between Fergus and Elora, the Aboyne Trail leads around the grounds of the Wellington County Museum and Archives, past its old lime kilns and outdoor exhibits.

Centre Wellington was formed on January 1, 1999, when the County joined the Town of Fergus, the Village of Elora and the townships of Nichol, Pilkington and West Garafraxa with part of Eramosa. The Shand Dam was built across the Grand River in 1942 for flood control and power, and its reservoir became Belwood Lake. The stone House of Industry and Refuge, built by the County in 1877 between Fergus and Elora, has been the Wellington County Museum and Archives since 1975.

The 2021 census counted about 12,700 homes in Centre Wellington. Leaving out Fergus, Elora and Salem, which the census counts together, the countryside and its hamlets had about 3,300 homes, about 2,800 of them with people living in them on census day. More than nine in ten are single detached houses. About one in five were built in 1960 or earlier and about a quarter between 1961 and 1980. More than a third were built between 1981 and 2000, and about one in five in 2001 or later.

Highway 6 crosses the township from Guelph through Fergus toward Arthur, and Wellington roads link the countryside with Fergus, Elora, Belwood and Guelph. Guelph City Hall is about 22 km by road from Fergus, and Highway 401 about 39 km. The Elora Cataract Trailway, on the old Credit Valley Railway line, runs east from Elora through Fergus, along the top of the Shand Dam and past Belwood Lake. The Cottontail Road Trail, 12.6 km and part of the Trans Canada Trail, runs from just outside Elora to the Goderich to Guelph Rail Trail in Guelph/Eramosa.

The Belwood Lake Conservation Area at 8282 Wellington Road 18 is open all year, with a double boat ramp, fishing, picnic areas and the quarry beach, and a second boat ramp is in the village of Belwood. In Belwood, Maple Park off Queen Street has a pavilion and an accessible playground, Douglas Park off Amalia Crescent has basketball hoops and swings, and the sports field has a lit ball diamond. Belwood Hall, at 37 Queen Street beside the lake, is a historic community hall. The Elora Gorge Conservation Area at 7400 Wellington Road 21 has 450 campsites, riverside trails and tubing from May to October. The Wellington County Museum and Archives and the Aboyne branch of the Wellington County Library are at 552 Wellington Road 18.

• John Black Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for Belwood and the countryside east of Fergus, on Lamond Street in Fergus.
• Ponsonby Public School — JK to Grade 6. The public school for the countryside south of Elora, on Wellington Road 7, with Grades 7 and 8 at Elora Public School.
• Salem Public School — JK to Grade 6. The public school for some of the countryside around Salem, with Grades 7 and 8 at Elora Public School.
• Centre Wellington District High School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for the countryside, in Fergus, with French immersion.
• St. Joseph Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school for Belwood and the east, in Fergus.
• St. Mary Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school for the west and south, in Elora.
• St. James Catholic High School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school for the east, including Belwood, in Guelph.
• Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school for the west and south, in Guelph.