Directions

From Toronto: QEW to Highway 406 south and exit Pine Street Left on Pine Street Right on Richmond Street at lights and follow around bend Second right on Portland Street and follow to the end Left on Chapel Street Right into Lock 7 Viewing Complex parking lot, on the corner From Niagara Falls or Fort Erie: QEW exit Thorold Stone Road West Left onThorold Stone Road and follow through the Thorold Tunnel that goes under the Welland Canal Right first exit, Pine Street Right on Pine Street Right on Richmond Street at lights and follow around bend Second right on Portland Street and follow to the end Left on Chapel Street Right into Lock 7 Viewing Complex parking lot, on the corner Or, from Niagara Falls or Fort Erie:: QEW exit Glendale Avenue Left on Glendale Avenue and follow over Glendale Avenue Vertical Lift Bridge http://www.historicbridges.org/truss/glendale/ Once over bridge take first left onto the Welland Canal Parkway Follow the parkway until the very end and turn right onto Chapel Street South Lock 7 Viewing Complex is the building on the corner to your right Driving the scenic route from Highway 20: Take Highway 406 North and exit Beaverdams Road Right on Beaverdams Road and continue until Pine Street Left on Pine Street Right on Richmond Street at lights and follow around bend Second right on Portland Street and follow to the end Left on Chapel Street Right into Lock 7 Viewing Complex parking lot, on the corner

Historical

There is a legend in Thorold of the Kissing Rock, that has its source in a time when the Fourth Canal opened and the canal was a bustle of activity. Many ships would have to wait at the mouth of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, sometimes for days, to get through the canal system.  Charles Snelgrove from England was among the sailors on the ships at that time.  Orphaned at a very young age and sent to Canada for a better life, he eventually ended up as a sailor on the Great Lakes. Thorold was a hive of activity for sailors who sometimes had quite a bit of time on their hands. Charlie, being quite a good looking, charming man, would meet many a young lady while in port.  Before boarding the ship at Lock 7, Charlie would bring the lassie to the rock in Thorold to say good bye and kiss the girl. It didn't take long before many sailors learned of what Charlie was doing and they too would bring their girlfriends or wives to kiss them goodbye on the Rock. Sometimes they would chip a piece off the Rock and put it in their pockets for a safe journey.  Sailors, being a superstitious lot, soon considered it bad luck to defy fate by leaving Lock 7 without visiting the Kissing Rock.

Recreational

A Kiss is Not Just a Kiss  by Terry M. Dow, Director of Tourism Services, Thorold Tourism “Just as no two people are alike, nor are two kisses.  It is people who make kisses – real, live people pulsating with life and love and extreme happiness. That is why no trip to Niagara is complete unless you visit the legendary Kissing Rock that sits atop the Niagara Escarpment at Lock 7. Join the thousands of couples who have sealed their love (and lips) for each other by kissing at this famous rock. Poets such as Coleridge called kiss “nectar breathing.”  Shakespeare says that a kiss is a “seal of love” and Martia, the Roman poet describes kiss as “the fragrance of balsam extracted from aromic trees.” Yes, a kiss is all of these…and more. The deliciousness of a long remembered kiss was beautifully expressed in a poem called “Three Kisses,” in which we find the verse: I gently raised her sweet, pure face, Her eyes radiant, love-light filled. That trembling kiss I’ll ne’er forget With both our hearts with rapture filled. So, gentleman, sweep her into your arms and tower over her, look into her eyes and cup her chin with your finger and then, bend over her face and plant your eager, virile lips on hers.  That’s a kiss.”