Ballantrae, Ontario (2011 population 1,382) is a hamlet in the Town of Whitchurch–Stouffville. Named after the village of Ballantrae in South Ayrshire, Scotland, the community is centred on the intersection of Aurora Road (York Regional Road 15) and Highway 48. The hamlet was first settled in the early nineteenth century, and by 1895 it had a population of 300. The settlement was located on the edge of a vast lumber industry centred in the hamlet of Vivian; a spur-line of the Toronto and Nipissing Railway built in 1877 ran through Ballantrae from Stouffville to Jackson's Point on Lake Simcoe. In the early twentieth century, Ballantrae's population declined dramatically. Large-scale deforestation and erosion of the thin soil of northern Whitchurch Township created virtual sand deserts. With the passage of the Reforestation Act (1911), the process of reclaiming these areas slowly began.