Land for sale in Northumberland County, Ontario

About Northumberland County

The area

Northumberland County runs along the north shore of Lake Ontario from Port Hope east to Brighton, and north to Rice Lake and the Trent River. It had about 89,400 people in 2021. Its seven municipalities are the Town of Cobourg, where the county offices are, the Municipalities of Port Hope, Brighton and Trent Hills, and the Townships of Alnwick/Haldimand, Cramahe and Hamilton. The land is rolling farmland and woodland, with the hills of the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Trent-Severn Waterway. About 840 farms work some 203,000 acres, and dairy, corn and soybeans earn the most.

History

This is the traditional and treaty territory of the Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg; the county recognizes the Mississauga and Chippewa Nations of the Williams Treaties as rights holders. Alderville First Nation, near Roseneath, has been home to Mississauga Anishinabeg since the mid-1830s, when they moved from Grape Island in the Bay of Quinte. Loyalists settled at Smith's Creek, later Port Hope, by 1793.

Services and access

Northumberland Hills Hospital in Cobourg offers emergency and intensive care, surgery, obstetrics, MRI and CT. Campbellford Memorial Hospital in Trent Hills has a 24-hour emergency department. Highway 401 puts Toronto and Kingston each within about 1.5 hours; Cobourg has a VIA Rail station. Manufacturing (metal fabrication, furniture, food, machinery, plastics) is a major employer, and the agri-food chain provides about 13% of jobs.

Land and climate

The Ganaraska Forest, run by the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority, is the largest continuous forest in southern Ontario. Where town water and sewers are unavailable, the county plan allows a private well and septic system if the site can support them long term. The county issues septic permits everywhere except Trent Hills, which issues its own.

Before you buy

Each municipality issues building permits and sets zoning through its own official plan and zoning bylaw; the county official plan sets broad designations and approves subdivisions. On land designated Agricultural Area, new lots are mostly limited to farm splits of about 40 hectares or a surplus farmhouse after a farm consolidation. Buildings and septic systems generally sit at least 30 metres back from the top of a watercourse bank. Moraine land, including parts of Hamilton Township, also falls under the provincial Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan, part of the Greenbelt. Work near floodplains, wetlands, watercourses or shorelines needs a conservation authority permit: Ganaraska Region covers all or part of Port Hope, Cobourg, Hamilton and Alnwick/Haldimand; Lower Trent covers all or part of Brighton, Cramahe, Trent Hills and Alnwick/Haldimand; Otonabee and Crowe Valley cover parts of Trent Hills. Parks Canada issues Trent-Severn Waterway permits. Radium and uranium refining in Port Hope from the 1930s left historic low-level radioactive waste; owners there can request a Radiological Status Letter from Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.

Sources

• Northumberland County, about the county
• Northumberland County, community profile (2021 Census)
• Northumberland County Official Plan, consolidated March 2026
• Northumberland County, plumbing and septic systems
• Northumberland Economic Development, agriculture and advanced manufacturing
• Alderville First Nation, history
• Founding of Port Hope plaque text
• Northumberland Hills Hospital and Campbellford Memorial Hospital
• Province of Ontario, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan
• Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority and Lower Trent Conservation, governance and permits
• Municipality of Trent Hills, conservation authorities and Township of Hamilton, planning and zoning
• Port Hope Area Initiative, history and Radiological Status Letter

Written by AcreScout from the sources listed; facts checked September 30, 2026. Rules change: confirm anything that matters with the municipality.