Overview
This park can be in the New Toronto neighbourhood of Etobicoke, on the shores of Lake Ontario.
From Humbers’ Lakeshore Campus, continue south on Kipling until you reach the main entrance to the park.
The park features various native species, a small example of the rare Carolinian forest ecosystem and the city’s first trail that turns into an ice skating attraction during the winter (City of Toronto, 2025).
From the main entrance to the furthest point that juts into the lake, the park spans over 2km of a conservation area that the city and the local conservation area use to renaturalize the park (TCLF, 2024.)
Location
History:
The park was named after the late Colonel Samuel Smith, one of the earliest settlers of what was once the independent settlement of Etobicoke (Veteran Affairs Canada, 2025).
The Colonel was originally a US citizen born in Hempstead, New York, however, he was a Loyalist to the Crown of England and so immigrated to the colony of Canada where he joined the Queen’s Rangers (Veteran Affairs Canada, 2025).
The lands of the park, Humber Lakeshore Campus and much of the lakefront area were originally his lands that were given due to his war efforts in protecting the colony (TCLF, 2024).
A year before Smith died in 1826, he granted his lands to the township of Etobicoke for agriculture, gardening and later- the townships’ Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital. It was founded due to the garden’s therapeutic effects on patients (Humber College, 1975).
The lands were repurposed from a psychiatric hospital into a college campus in the 1970s, with the full integration of the grounds into Humber College by 1995. (Yard, 2020).
Species On Trail
Featured Ecosystems:
Three significant areas within the park host various changes in ecosystems and the opportunity to see different kinds of native species.
The first area as you walk into the park is heavily wooded, surrounding you will be trees like the Eastern Cottonwood, Black Gums’ and Yellow Poplars (Almas & Conway, 2016).
This specific area is known as Carolinian forest, or a soft soil forest where the soil and underbrush create a cushion-like feel when you walk just off the path. (Almas & Conway, 2016).
In Canada, Carolinian forests only make up about 1% of our forest mix, due to them only being found in Ontario’s southern regions.
But due to climate change, these areas are becoming even more rare with more hazardous weather becoming the norm (NCC, 2022).
Further into the park, the trails become more focused on wetland plants, and various plants host fruit.
However, the TRCA mentions that you should not take anything from the trails as some plants are considered poisonous within the trail. (TRCA, 2024).
Finally, at the southern tip of the park, you reach the lake and the rocky shoreline of Etobicoke. Amongst the rocks, you can find various species of lizards, minks and crustaceans that call this part of the path home. (City of Toronto, 2025).
It is also an important spot for birds to nest and raise their young (TRCA, 2024).
Citations:
Almas, A. D., & Conway, T. M. (2016). The role of native species in urban forest planning and practice: A case study of Carolinian Canada. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 17, 54–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2016.01.015
City of Toronto. (2025). Colonel Samuel Smith Park. City of Toronto Website. Retrieved from https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-recreation/places-spaces/parks-and-recreation-facilities/location/?id=466&title=Colonel-Samuel-Smith-Park
Humber College. (1975). Lakeshore Campus Master Plan. Humber Archives. Retrieved from https://archives.humber.ca/humber-lakeshore-1-campus-master-plan-reportives
NCC. (2022). Carolinian Forest. Retrieved from https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/what-we-do/resource-centre/forests-101/carolinian-forest.html
TCLF. (2024). Colonel Samuel Smith Park. Retrieved from https://www.tclf.org/landscapes/colonel-samuel-smith-park
TRCA. (2024). Colonel Samuel Smith Maintenance Project Plans. Retrieved from https://trca.ca/conservation/erosion-risk-management/restore/colonel-samuel-smith-park-major-maintenance/#habitat
Veteran Affairs Canada. (2025). Colonel Samuel Smith. Retrieved from https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/national-inventory-canadian-memorials/details/8929
Yard, Bridgit. (2020). Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital Beyond the Ghost Stories. Retrieved from https://humber.ca/today/news/thestoryunfolds-lakeshore-psychiatric-hospital-beyond-ghost-stories