Why go
The locks beside Parliament Hill preserve the working origin of Bytown, while the tower bell and rebuilt Centre Block reveal later changes to the capital. Reading these places together makes a central walk more coherent than a list of isolated monuments. The sequence links canal engineering, river trade, the 1857 capital decision, and parliamentary architecture.
The full story
Ottawa grew from Bytown, a settlement tied to the construction of the Rideau Canal under Lieutenant-Colonel John By in the 1820s and early 1830s. The canal was conceived as a defensible inland link between the Ottawa River and Lake Ontario after the War of 1812. Its locks beside the present Parliament Hill remain the most direct place to see that engineering story. Timber commerce along the Ottawa River then helped the settlement expand. In 1857 Queen Victoria selected Ottawa as the capital of the Province of Canada; after Confederation, it became the federal capital. Parliament Hill's Gothic Revival buildings made that national role visible on the high river bluff. The Centre Block seen today follows a 1916 fire that destroyed its predecessor, while the Victoria Tower Bell on the grounds preserves a physical trace of that loss. A walk from the ByWard Market and canal locks to Parliament Hill is therefore more than a sequence of landmarks. It moves from the working waterway and early town toward the ceremonial architecture of a capital.