Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Toronto and about west of Kingston. It is located at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County. The private Trinity College School opened here in 1868. History Cayuga people, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, migrated to the Port Hope area from New York state in 1779. They had been forced from their homeland south of the Great Lakes after having been allies of the British during the American Revolution. Great Britain had ceded these lands, along with territory it occupied in the Thirteen Colonies east of the Mississippi River, after the United States won independence. In 1793, United Empire Loyalists from the northern colonies became the first permanent settlers of European heritage in Port Hope, as the Crown granted them land as compensation for being forced to leave the colonies (much of their property was confiscated by rebel governments) and as payment for military service. The new colonists called the settlement Smith's Creek after a former fur trader. They developed mills and a town plot by the turn of the century. After the War of 1812, the Crown tried to recruit more British settlers, and townspeople wanted a new name. After a brief fling with the name Toronto, the village was renamed in 1817 as Port Hope, after the Township of Hope of which it was a part. That was the namesake of Colonel Henry Hope, lieutenant governor of the Province of Quebec. The post office dates from 1820. In 1834 Port Hope was incorporated as a town. Relatively slow growth from 1881 to 1951 resulted in much of the town's 19th century architecture surviving. In the early 21st century, Port Hope's downtown is celebrated as the best-preserved 19th-century streetscape in the province of Ontario. The town's local chapter of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario and the Heritage Port Hope Advisory Committee are very active and advise on the restoration and preservation of architecturally or historically significant buildings. With over 270 heritage-designated buildings throughout the municipality, Port Hope has a higher per capita rate of preservation than any other town or city in Canada. Downtown businesses are regulated by the municipality to maintain the town's unique character. This special character makes Port Hope a destination for heritage tourism and people interested