Fenelon Falls is rich in native and pioneer history.

       More than 10,000 years ago Paleo-Indians inhabited the area. 2000 years ago came the Southern Woodland Indians, hunters who set up temporary camps in the area. In 1615 when Samuel de Champlain travelled what is now the Trent-Severn Waterway, Huron Indians had camps throughout the region. Unlike the previous tribes, the Hurons relied on both hunting and agriculture to survive.

      Europeans began to arrive in this region around 1700. They were heavily engaged in the fur trade and it was not until the early 1800's that the area around Fenelon Falls was settled. The first settlers hailed from the United Kingdom. The area of land that is now Fenelon Falls was originally called Cameron Falls after the first landowner, the Honourable Duncan Cameron, who was the provincial secretarary of Upper Canada between 1817 and 1838. When Cameron passed away in 1838, the land was sold to James Wallis and Robert Jameson who became the founders of the present village. Wallis's home in the village, Maryboro Lodge still stands in it's original location on Oak Street and is now the village museum.

      Wallis and Jameson had dreams of setting up tenant farms. However this dream never became a reality. While Jameson returned to England, Wallis constructed the first mill in the township, a grist mill at the falls in 1841. Ten years later, he tore down this first mill and built a combination grist- and saw-mill in its place. Wallis entered the booming lumbering business and Fenelon Falls experienced great growth. When the mill burnt down eight years later, this growth was halted. The history of Fenelon Falls continues in this "boom and bust" manner. When the mills were up and running the town grew and prospered. However when the mills weren't running, all expansion halted.

      In 1874, the village of Fenelon Falls was incorporated. Then in 1876, the Victoria Railway reached Fenelon Falls. The village was booming. In 1885 construction of the a lock between Cameron and Sturgeon lake literally begin with a bang. The excavators were using a new explosive known as dynamite to blow rocks out of the prospective lock pits. They under-estmated this new blasting agent's strength and sent chunks of limestone flying into the air and crashing through the roofs of buildings more than a hundred metres away. The waterway had reached Fenelon Falls.

      When the lumber trade deteriorated the falls served another useful purpose.A Hydro-electric generating plant was built, and the falls produced enough power to supply Fenelon and Lindsay with electricity.

      Since the turn of the century, tourism has been a large part of Fenelon Falls. The two lakes are home to many summer resorts, lodges and cottages. The friendly, laid-back atmosphere draws people for a relaxing holiday away from the husltle and bustle of home.

       Lock 34 of the Trent Severn Waterway, in the heart of town, is one of the busiest locks on the waterway. People come to Fenelon Falls for their vacation, and return year after year.