Leith, Ontario

The unincorporated village of Leith is located on the eastern shore of the Owen Sound, an inlet on the south shore of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron about 9 km northeast of the city of Owen Sound, Ontario in Canada. It was established on the Telfer Creek where it empties into the sound. At one time a pier capable of serving sailing ships existed on the east side of the mouth of the river. However, exposure to the open Georgian Bay to the north-northeast eventually caused the destruction of the pier. All that remains are a collection of old wooden pilings, serving principally as an obstacle to pleasure boaters.

A superior harbour in the city of Owen Sound eventually led to the total demise of Leith as a commercial port. Today it is partly a suburb of Owen Sound for year-round residents and partly a center for summer cottagers.

Leith is the site of the grave of Tom Thompson, a noted Canadian landscape painter who died in mysterious circumstances at Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park in 1917. Thompson was a friend of the Group of Seven, famous landscape painters many of whose works are on permanent display at the McMichael Collection in Kleinberg, Ontario.

A plan to incorporate Leith was created in the 19th century but was never executed.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s there were two small general stores in the village and a post office.

Leith is well known for sport fishing. While the lake trout have largely vanished from Lake Huron, rainbow trout and salmon still exist in the lake.

The old Leith Golf Course closed in the 1970s, as did the old Leith Church.