The Veteran’s Memorial Park is located along Highway 17 within the village of Cobden. The park is easily recognized by the enormous Canadian flag that measures fifteen feet by thirty feet that is flying atop the one hundred-foot flag pole that was erected courtesy of the Royal Canadian Legion.
On November 15, 1904, the village of Cobden purchased land from Thomas & Elizabeth Robinson for the sum of eight hundred dollars. Nine of these lots became the Village of Cobden Municipal Park that was later renamed on June 3, 2000 to the Veteran’s Memorial Park. A cenotaph was erected in the park to honour the memory of the brave men and women from Cobden & District who volunteered their services to Canada in its time of need. Mention is made on the cenotaph of the Boer War, both World Wars, the Korean War, the Gulf War and Canada’s peacekeeping operations.

In 1960 a plaque dedicated to Champlain’s journey of 1613 was erected in the park by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board which was later incorporated into the Ontario Heritage Foundation. As reported on the plaque, it was during 1613 that Samuel de Chaplain travelled up the Ottawa River seeking the northern sea (Hudson Bay) which his companion Nicolas de Vignau claimed to have seen. The party headed inland above Lac des Chats and then followed a series of small lakes towards Cobden. It was here on June 7th that they visited with Algonquin chief Nibachis. Later, the party met with Algonquin elder Tessouat at Allumette Lake who convinced Champlain that the northern sea did not exist. Champlain then proceeded to return down river.

It is during this journey that Champlain is believed to have lost his astrolabe, a navigational instrument that was used to measure latitude. In 1867, a 14-year-old farm youth named Edward Lee found the astrolabe while clearing trees by Green Lake in the former Township of Ross. It is reported that Lee was offered ten dollars for the astrolabe by Captain Cowley who operated a steamboat on Muskrat Lake. The youth never saw the money and Captain Cowley sold the astrolabe to his employer R.W. Cassels, President of the Ottawa Forwarding Company. Later, the astrolabe was sold to a New York collector and then passed on to the New York Historical Society. It was in June 1989 that it was acquired by the Department of Communications for the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Commencing each year on the May long weekend and continuing until the end of the Thanksgiving long weekend, the park provides travellers with overnight camping sites that offer water and electricity hook-ups and showers. The current camping fee is $15.00 per night on a first-come basis (no advance booking) and there is a $15.00 fee for use of the dumping station.

Located on the edge of Muskrat Lake, the park also has a lovely beach area as a result of the never-ending work by The Cobden Civitans Club. This Club, which has supported numerous community projects since its formation in 1974, initiated a project in 1988 to improve and rebuild the beach area at the park and waterfront. The project took three years to complete but the outcome is visible today as one takes a leisurely stroll along the beach.