Rockwood

Rockwood's conservation area hides glacial potholes, caves, and romantic mill ruins, in a village on the Eramosa River between Guelph and Acton. The river runs through the middle of the village, and the Rockwood Conservation Area lines both banks with towering limestone cliffs, a series of 12 caves and more than 200 glacial potholes, including one of the world's largest. Its trails follow both sides of the river, and in summer visitors swim at the sandy beach, camp and rent canoes and kayaks. The stone walls of the Harris woollen mill of 1884 stand by the water. In the village, Rockmosa Park has a splash pad, lit tennis courts, an off-leash dog area and a toboggan hill, with the library and community centre beside it. On Main Street South stands the former Rockwood Academy, a school founded in 1850.

Eramosa Township was first settled in 1821, and the village that grew up on the river was first called Brotherstown before it was renamed Rockwood. Its mills ran on the Eramosa River, and limestone was quarried here. In 1867 the Harris brothers and their brother-in-law Thomas Wetherald opened the Rockwood Woolen Mill, rebuilt in stone in 1884, which made blankets for the Canadian army in the First World War and closed in 1931. James J. Hill, who founded the Great Northern Railway, was born in Rockwood in 1838, and the Grand River Conservation Authority opened the conservation area in 1963.

The 2021 census counted about 2,040 homes in Rockwood. About three in four are single detached houses, and row houses make up about one in seven. About one in eight homes were built in 1960 or earlier and about one in eleven between 1961 and 1980. About three in ten were built between 1981 and 2000, and nearly half in 2001 or later.

Highway 7 runs through Rockwood, west to Guelph and east to Acton. Guelph City Hall is about 13 km away by road, a drive of about 15 minutes, and Highway 401 is about 27 km away. The GO Transit and VIA Rail trains on the line through the south of the township do not stop in it; the nearest stations are Guelph Central and Acton. The trails of the Rockwood Conservation Area and the Sarah Ransom Woodlot are in the village.

The Rockwood Conservation Area at 161 Fall Street South is open all year, with about 105 campsites from May to October, a beach, canoe rentals and trails on both sides of the river. Rockmosa Park at 120 Rockmosa Drive has a lit ball diamond, the Drexler sports field, three lit tennis courts, a splash pad, a playground, a pavilion, an off-leash dog area and a toboggan hill. The Rockmosa Community Centre, the Rockmosa Enabling Garden and the Rockwood branch of the Wellington County Library are at 121 Rockmosa Drive. Lloyd Dyer Park on Balaclava Street has a lit outdoor rink, a ball diamond, a ball hockey court and a playground, Max Storey Park on Dunbar Street has a pond, walking trails and a rink, and Valentino Park on Fountain Street has a playground, an outdoor rink and a community garden. Waterside Park, run by the Rockwood Lions Club, is on Main Street South.

• Rockwood Centennial Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for most of Rockwood, on Pasmore Street, and the middle school for the whole village, with French immersion from Grade 6 to Grade 8.
• École Harris Mill Public School — JK to Grade 5. The public school for some streets, such as Dunbar Street, on MacLennan Street, and the French immersion school for Rockwood from JK to Grade 5.
• John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institute — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school, in Guelph, with French immersion.
• Sacred Heart Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school, on Wellington Road 27.
• St. James Catholic High School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school, in Guelph.