The islands are named after two of Britain’s generals from the time period of the Seven Year’s War: James Wolfe (d. Sept 13, 1759) and William Howe (d. 1814), a subordinate of Wolfe’s at the Plains Of Abraham and later Commander-in-Chief of British troops in North America during the American Revolution. The islands’ current names first appeared on a map in 1818 when Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen of the Royal Navy conducted a naval survey of the 1,000 Islands.

Today, the islands have a mixture of agricultural and rural lifestyles with a growing proportion of residents working off the islands in Kingston or elsewhere in Frontenac County.

Source: Frontenac Islands