Not exactly a best kept secret, but the historic dog-friendly Brockville Railway Tunnel in Brockville, Ontario is worth a short detour from Highway 401 no matter where you’re headed. If you’ve got your dog with you (and why wouldn’t you?), even better.

If you don’t meet other dog walkers in the tunnel, especially during the heat of the summer, I’ll be surprised. The Brockville Railway Tunnel is part historical experience and part LED light-fueled night club experience. The 19^th meets the 21^st century underneath four blocks of city streets in Brockville, Ontario.

Is the Brockville Railway Tunnel Dog-friendly?

Yes, and many locals (and people visiting Brockville) know it. The Brockville Railway Tunnel is a popular dog-walking adventure because it’s easy, straight, and an escape from whatever weather is outside. In the summer, it’s cool but moist – it is, after all, a 524-meter (1,721 feet) long corridor stretching several blocks underneath Brockville’s downtown.

Start at the Brockville waterfront – there’s free parking and lakeside park is a great on leash dog walking opportunity as well. Take some pics on the giant Muskoka chairs (a seemingly mandatory addition to any Ontario town north of Toronto). Visit the train caboose and learn about why this railway is a historic attraction.

History of the Brockville Railway Tunnel

Then move through the wooden doors flanking the stone tunnel built between 1854 to 1860. Yes, this is an actual railroad tunnel that once saw engines chug their way through as part of the Grand Trunk Railway system that helped build Canada’s economy during the Industrial Revolution. (We learned more about the importance of the rail system during a visit to Smiths Falls where we spent a night in a caboose).

Because it’s a real almost 200-year-old stone tunnel, it’s dark(ish), and damp, and water and minerals drip down the stone walls creating an eerie mosaic of earth tones on the walls. That would be interesting enough, especially because several plaques along the way explain what you’re looking at and why the dome-shaped tunnel was an engineering feat for its time.

Yet, there’s more. Today, it’s a simple experience where oddly dark damp history meets Las Vegas vibrancy (almost).

Brockville Railway Tunnel Today

Start at the waterfront, enter the tunnel through the wide-open wooden doors, and viola. Surprise! This historic walk through an underground railway tunnel is punctuated with an LED light show and a musical soundtrack.

That’s right – adding a modern update to an engineering marvel that’s a century and a half old are strings of LED lights that periodically cast colourful hues through the tunnel. Colours change washing the inside of the tunnel with pink, green, and then blue. Contemporary music compliments the beat of the lights. It’s a strange fun journey – and one you can easily do with your dog.

Overall Experience

Stopping along Highway 401 to check out the Brockville Railway Tunnel is an amusing (and free) opportunity to let your dog stretch her legs – and amuse yourself. The walk from one end and back is about 20 to 30 minutes.

You’ll meet other dog walkers too. Walking under the streets, especially in the summer, is popular with locals. Furthermore, I did have to keep my sniff-everything pup away from the edges. That’s where the rows of LED lights lie. She would have jump into the space between the floor and the railway wall if I’d let her.

But she was the only dog we met giving that a try. The lights had little effect on her but amused me to no end during the walk from entrance to end and back again.

Writer bio: Sherri Telenko has been a professional writer for decades and a travel writer for the last two. She’s a member of TMAC (Travel Media Association of Canada) and Dog Writers Association of America and travels almost weekly with her canine companion, Victoria.Contact Sherri at dogtrotting.net here. All written content is original, written by a person, and based on experience and research. Please subscribe!