Hawkesbury is a town in Eastern Ontario on the Ottawa River, near the Quebec/Ontario border.

It lies on the south shore of the Ottawa River about halfway between downtown Ottawa and downtown Montreal in Prescott and Russell. The Long-Sault Bridge (replacing the Perley Bridge) links it to Grenville, Quebec, to the north. It is located 25 km west of Lachute, Quebec.

Hawkesbury is touted as the third most bilingual town in Ontario, with about 69.6% of its inhabitants being fluent in English and French, the two official languages of Canada. (West Nipissing is first with 73.4% followed by Hearst at 71%.) 89% of the population is made up of French speaking Franco-Ontarians. The downtown core is very attractive.

Unfortunately, development on the outskirts has hurt some of the business and the Main Street is slowly recovering. The 2 shopping centers are also recovering from the new 'big box' phenomenon happening on highway 17.

Founded in 1798, the town was named after Charles Jenkinson, Baron Hawkesbury.

Thomas Mears built the first gristmills and sawmills, and the Union, the Ottawa River's first steamer. Demand for timber during the Napoleonic Wars created a boom.

Timber and pulp-and-paper industries have been supplanted by textiles, synthetic fibres, metal extrusions, steel, glass and plastics.

Hawkesbury has also become the business and service centre of the county of Prescott-Russell, although recently Rockland has become the largest community [1]. The Grenville Canal on the Québec side of the Ottawa River opposite Hawkesbury is an important link in the river's transportation system. The only interprovincial bridge between Ottawa and Montréal is located here. Part of Hawkesbury was submerged by a Hydro-Québec dam built 1950-62. New developments today are happening due to baby boomers from Ottawa, Montreal & area purchasing some of the many new condos in towers.