Tollkeeper’s Cottage

Conservation / Preservation:

Architecture

The cottage itself is Ontario’s oldest-known example of the rare “vertical plank construction.” Only a handful of extant structures in Ontario were built in this unique style.

Environment

The cottage grounds have been planted with species indegenous to the area or with plants and flowers the pioneers would have brought with them in the nineteenth century.

Public Programming:

Exhibitions

The cottage is decorated with many furnishings unique to the mid nineteenth century.
Docents in period dress describe the road system and life of ordinary Torontonians of the 19th century,

Educational Programming

School groups can arrange visits to the cottage.
Evening lectures.
Workshops on knitting, rug braiding, and other heritage skills.

Other

Check the website for special events such as Strawberry Socials and Victoria Day Tea.

Sharon Temple National Historic Site

Conservation/Preservation:

Artefacts

Temple: a new restoration was completed in 2011
David Willson’s Study: workplace of the leader of the Children of Peace
Doan Home: home of Ebenezer Doan, master builder of the Temple
Jesse Doan log house
Cookhouse
Doan drive shed
Granary

architecture

All buildings and artefacts relate to pioneer life and the Children of Peace.

The Sharon Temple: Built between 1825 and 1832. Restoration on the building was completed in 2011.
David Willson’s Study: Built in 1829, and was the workplace of David Willson, the leader of the Children of Peace.
Doan Home: Built in 1819, it was the home of Ebenezer Doan, the master builder of the Temple.
Log House: Built in the 1830s, the Log House was the home of Jesse Doan, the first leader of the Sharon Civilian Band.
Doan Drive Shed
Cookhouse: Used to cook the 15 major feasts throughout the year. Once a month when the temple would be used to collect donations, and on three special occasions: Christmas, the first Saturday in June (in celebration of David Willson’s birthday), and the first Saturday in September (a celebration of the harvest and illumination).
Granary

Public Programming:

Online

175 Years of Hope: A Celebration of the Sharon Temple and The Children of Peace. http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/sharon_temple/index.aspx

Music at Sharon: Sunday afternoon concerts of classical music.

Special Events

Check the website for updates. Below is a list of events in 2017:

March 16 2017: Weaving Words Speakers Series – Stories come in all forms. A discussion of World War One and the Canadian Expeditionary Forces at the Battle of Vimy Ridge that complements our Dear Sadie Exhibit.
April 20 2017: Weaving Words Speakers Series – Stories come in all forms. The History Hound will discuss genealogy and decorating your family tree.
May 18 2017: Weaving Words Speakers Series – Stories come in all forms. This series will bring those stories alive in various forms to delight, inspire, and entertain audiences. This event will showcase young artists.
June 8 2017: Heritage Celebration – This event will celebrate the purchase of the Temple by the York Pioneer Historical Society in 1917, an event which saved the Temple from destruction. Heritage Celebration will feature: delightful hors d’ouvres, historic tours, wine and craft beer, and a stunning musical performance in the one of a kind Sharon Temple.
July 1 2017: Canada Day Community Celebration – Celebrate Canada’s history in your own backyard! Enjoy a day of music, heritage games, historic demonstrations, museum exhibits, 1937 Reenactment and Encampment, and more.
July 23 2017: Music at the Temple – Come by to enjoy local musicians and great food in an amazing location.
September 8 2017: The Illumination – Following the practice of the Children of Peace, the museum recreates The Illumination on the first Friday night of September every year. Candles are lit in every window of the Temple and in the twelve lanterns on the corners. The evening includes music, readings, ceremony, and light refreshments on the grounds.
September 17 2017: Weaving Words – Weaving Words is a celebration of stories and the many ways that we will tell them, through written and spoken word, through music, film, and dance. Storytellers, writers, musicians, film-makers and other performances from a wide range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds will gather to celebrate everything that is special about who we are, where we have come from and where we are going. Through our stories we celebrate our history and our culture with all of its diversity; we celebrate the people who have made this nation great.
September 30 2017: Culture Day at the Temple

Exhibits

May 8 2017 – September 9 2017: Our Natural World Exhibit – There was a time when everything a person owned would be made from things you find in nature. Come examine a collection of interesting everyday objects made out of natural materials. Be inspired by your natural world; what would you make from these objects?
May 8 2017 – September 8 2017 Richard Coates: Our Renaissance Man – Richard Coates was a man of many talents. While we know very little of his education, his life speaks to great diversity. He was the bandmaster in the Battle of Waterloo, he built 3 organs, some of the earliest surviving in Canada, and he painted beautiful banners, like “Peace” and “Plenty” that hang in the Temple today. Coates was a musician, an inventor, a painter, and an astronomer; a man of eclectic talents that we now call “Our Renaissance Man”.
May 8 2017 –October 31 2017: Coming Home: Quaker Beginnings in York Exhibit – Everyone comes from somewhere, and each of their journeys are different. Coming Home: Quaker Beginnings in York, shares the journeys of three families: the Hughes, Starrs, and Lundys, as they immigrate to York to make a new home. In honor of Canada’s 150, the Sharon Temple invites the public to share in the experience of early Quaker settlers as they journey across unknown lands, experience many trials, and finally, form a community. This is the story of a group of settlers that made more than a house, they made a home

Tours

Call to arrange a guided tour of the site, although tours can be given to people who just drop by during our hours of operation.

Pickering Museum Village

Conservation / Preservation:

Architecture

The village is comprised of many structures dating as far back as the 1820s, including log (round and squared timber), vertical plank, stacked plank, post-and-beam, and balloon construction styles. Most recently acquired building was a mail-order house from Aladdin House Company, Toronto. Architecture primarily Ontario vernacular.

Artefacts

Artefact holdings total over 10,000 artefacts, many in storage and not on exhibit in buildings. Contextual artefact exhibits in heritage buildings illustrate daily life in set time periods throughout Pickering’s development from early settlement to 1910.

Public Programming:

Educational Programming

For a fee, this institution offers full day and half day education tours and outreach programs for classrooms/meeting groups for grades preschool to high school that concentrate on daily life in Pickering from the early-nineteenth century to the present.

Full day tours include visits to the site’s restored buildings dating from 1810, where students grind grain, haul water, work in the blacksmith shop, make soap, bake bread, and experience lessons in a nineteenth century schoolhouse.
Multi-day tours (two – five school days) offer extended visits to each building where students participate in the full day activities and benefit from additional heritage programming.
Tailored particularly to home schooled children, a nine week Pioneer Immersion program offers children the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in nineteenth century life.
Heritage to Go! program sends an instructor in nineteenth century dress to teach curriculum-based programs on a wide range of themes.

Exhibitions

Exhibits are held in a temporary gallery sapce in the administrative building twice per year.

Workshops and other public programming

Summer Day Camp

Full day camp on heritage inspired themes for campers ages 5 – 12 years.

Public Workshops on a wide range of themes and topics including:

Themed tea workshops
Cooking workshops
Victorian Dance workshops
Guest Speaker Presentations (off or on-site presentations on themes such as the Temperance Movement, Heritage Gardening, Tea, Victorian Funeral Traditions

Special Events

Mother’s Day Tea
Summer Solstice Suppers
Teddy Bear Picnic
Museum Minecraft
A Spirit Walk: Call to Rebellion (theatrical performance about the 1837 Rebellion)
Christmas in the Village, Winter in the Woods

Markham Museum

Conservation / Preservation:

Architecture

Restored homes of three early settlers.
A nineteenth century church, blacksmith shop, cider mill, general store, and sawmill.
A 1930s-era train station.

Public Programming:

Exhibitions

Changing exhibits that included photographs and various artefacts from the Museum’s collection in addition to those loaned to the museum by local individuals and families.

Education

Day and half day programs for students from kindergarten to high school focusing primarily on early life, including work, transportation, home life, and leisure, in the area. In the Museum’s research facility, high school students learn how to work with primary research materials.

Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum and Arts Centre

Conservation / Preservation:

Architecture

Four original, in situ buildings remain on the grounds. These consist of two historic homes, the former paper mill and the remains of the brewery complex. The Cottage has been restored to the 1940s reflecting life on the home front in East York while Helliwell House has been restored to reflect workers’ lives in the late 1890s. The paper mill has been restored to a fully-accessible theatre and gallery now known as the Papermill Theatre and Gallery.

Artefacts

The Museum’s collection consists primarily of artifacts related to the time periods to which the two historic houses have been restored.

Environment / Nature

The site contains a 9.2 hectare wildflower preserve that is being re-naturalized to pre-European contact.

Public Programming:

Exhibitions

The artifacts on display in the historic houses reflect the time periods to which the homes have been restored.

Education / Tours

Guided tours of the two historic houses and grounds are available year-round. Educational, curriculum-linked programs are available to school groups. Seasonal guided walks of the wildflower preserve are also provided.

Art Gallery

The Papermill Gallery regularly exhibits the works of local artists, community art groups and emerging artists.

Theatre

The Papermill Theatre offers performance space for theatre, community celebrations and corporate events.

Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch

Conservation / Preservation:

Artefacts

Historic ceramics, including some by notable ceramics artist, Oleksa Bakhmatyuk (1820-1882).
Ukrainian woodwork, including crosses, musical instruments, boxes, plates and bowls, chests and toys.
Religious pieces such as crèche, icons, crosses, bibles and prayer books
Historic and contemporary jewelry and other adornment.
Reproductions of historic costumes of Ukrainian nobility from the eighth to the eighteenth century; folk dress, ritual cloths, kylyms, and household textiles.
Prints, engravings, etchings, lithographs, silk screenings, and currency and stamps from the period 1918-1920.
Pysanky representing many regions in Ukraine.

Public Programming:

Exhibits

Large rotating and traveling exhibits dealing with historic and contemporary Ukrainian handicrafts and art, Ukrainian immigrants in Canada, and Christianity. Each exhibit is inaugurated with a public lecture.

Educational Programming

Educational programs are developed for each exhibit and can be accessed by school teachers and students of all grades.

Toronto’s First Post Office

Conservation / Preservation:

Artefacts

Primarily early nineteenth century letter-writing materials such as pens, penknives, quill cutters, inkwells, seals, pounce pots, a post master’s desk and a portable post master’s desk.
Artefacts pertaining to the history of the Bank of Upper Canada and the De La Salle Institute, buildings to which the 1833 post office was conjoined after 1873.
Nineteenth century currency from Upper and Lower Canada, United Kingdom, United States, and Spain.

Architecture

The building itself has been restored to its original condition. The original fireplace has been uncovered and restored.

Archives and Library

Correspondence relating to the postal service in Upper Canada.
Several rare books relating to the early postal system in Upper Canada.
Documents relating to the Bank of Upper Canada and De La Salle Institute.
Research files on subsequent owners of the Post Office building, such as Christie Brown and Co..
Hundreds of letters by nineteenth-century Torontonians.

Public Programming:

Exhibitions

The post office is decorated with furniture and accessories authentic to the period, and visitors can write letters using nineteenth-century paraphernalia.
The Post Office reading room houses permanent and changing exhibitions relating to the history of Toronto’s postal service.
Scale model of Toronto (York) in 1837, with an online legend that identifies significant landmarks.
Occasional traveling exhibits featuring items from the Post Office’s collection.

Public Lectures

Annual public lecture on Toronto history to coincide with the annual meeting of the Town of York Historical Society.
Occasional public lectures in conjunction with the work of other heritage organizations in Toronto.

Publications

Quarterly newsletter that updates members on developments in heritage preservation efforts in Toronto, particularly as regards the city’s built heritage, and events in the heritage community.

Black Creek Pioneer Village

Conservation/Preservation:

Artefacts

Black Creek Pioneer Village’s collection of 50,000 artefacts represents the development of the Toronto region in the 19th century. Of special note are the Percy Band Toy Collection with over 2,000 pieces and the Catherine Thuro Collection of over 150 working kerosene lamps. Other items include domestic artefacts, books, fine art, furniture, machinery, textiles, and tools.

Architecture

Black Creek Pioneer Village features a collection of 40 heritage homes, trade shops, community, and farm buildings from across south central Ontario. Each of the Village’s original buildings has been restored and furnished to recapture its original ambiance and demonstrates how settlers used it. Examples consist of a print shop, grain barn, smoke house and a tinsmith shop.

Digital Archives

Digital archive of onsite museum’s holdings available: http://www.blackcreekartifacts.com/bcpv/srchitem.html.

Public Programming

Exhibitions

At Black Creek Pioneer Village visitors enjoy exhibits focusing on the people and stories of Toronto Region, including the award-winning Breaking the Silence: Stories of the British Home Children, 1869-1948.

Public Programs

Public programs are offered daily and range from tours of the recreated 19th century brewery to short performances by Black Creek’s History Actors, from hands-on Discovery Stations to Farmyard Friends where visitors can get up close with heritage breed animals.

SPecial events

A seasonal roster of special events include Pioneer Harvest Festival, which has been celebrated annually for over 50 years, Light Up the Night, Ghost Walks, and Christmas by Lamplight.

Educational Programming

Interactive curriculum-linked programs are provided for students ranging from pre-school to post-secondary.

Dufferin County Museum and Archives (DCMA)

Conservation/Preservation:

Archives/Library

The archival collection encompasses a range of materials relating to all aspects of Dufferin’s history. The collection includes more than 3000 archival documents, more than 500 local history books, and approximately 3000 photographs, as well as a wide range of reference books pertaining to Canadian antiques and artifacts, Canadian history, local authors, education, area churches, and community organizations.
The archives also offers an extensive collection of municipal government information, such as by-laws, council minutes, and financial records, the earliest of which dates from 1851; information on such social organizations as the Loyal Orange Lodge, Masonic Lodge, and Women’s Institutes .
Local History: A collection of over 500 works, including information on Dufferin and area towns, villages, churches, schools as well as many personal anecdotes of life in this region of Ontario.
Museum Reference: The collection is accessible to researchers who are interested in finding and verifying information on Canadian, American and British antiques, Canadian glassware, antique furniture, costume jewellery and textiles.
Canadian History: A selection of over 200 works, including texts of general interest in Canadian social, economic, and political history.
Home & Health Advice: Includes some 200 works pertaining to Canadian agriculture, genealogy, cooking, maps, bibles, music and school textbooks.
Family History: Two self-serve filing cabinets offer a number of family histories and research files.
Cemetery Master Index and Transcriptions: Consult this master list available in the Archives.
Microfilm: Census Records of Dufferin County records 1852 to 1901 are available
Civil Registration Index from 1869 onward, various newspapers dating from 1861 including Orangeville Sun, Banner, Grand Valley Star & Vidette, Shelburne Economist, Free Press.
Dufferin County Land Records to 1966, Municipal Records and many County Directories and Atlases are available.

Artefacts

The first floor’s Large Artefact Storage Room is accessible to visitors. This area, which stores such items as wagons, sleighs, and furniture, allows visitors to view artefacts which are not currently on display in the DCMA’s exhibit galleries.
The collections include archival documents and artefacts such as Canadian glass and ceramics (notably, Corn Flower cut glassware), furniture, wagons, machinery, agricultural implements, clothing, quilts, archival documents, and photographs.
The museum’s hillside site features heritage gardens with a rich variety of plants, trees, and flowers, all of which were native to this region around 1900. The property also showcases samples of crop varieties traditionally harvested in DufferinCounty, as well as an apple orchard and an herb garden.

Public Programming:

Exhibitions

Three heritage buildings are situated inside the DCMA’s main gallery; the Rich Hill Orange Lodge Building 1861, a pioneer log home 1850, and Crombie’s Station, a Toronto, Grey and Bruce train flagging station, 1882.
Rich Hill Orange Lodge, constructed of tamarack logs in 1861, was originally located in AmaranthTownship.
The McCutcheon Replica House at the DCMA is a one and one-half storey log home, constructed with logs dating from 1851. The interior of the house is appointed and furnished with artefacts from the DCMA Collection to reflect the period of the County of Dufferin’s incorporation in 1881.
Also located on this site is the Historic Corbetton Methodist Church Building.
The Reading Room also showcases changing displays in beautiful antique cases, formerly of Morrow’s Jewellery Store in Orangeville, ca. 1880.

Tours

Group visits must be booked in advance and admission is $20.00/person.

Scadding Cabin

Public Programming:

Exhibitions

Scadding Cabin is constructed of squared, white pine logs with dovetailed corners and is furnished as a typical settler’s first house, with artefacts dating from the 1790s to the 1850s

Re-enactments / Theatre

Costumed volunteers will happily answer your questions about the early history of York (Toronto). York Pioneers often organize displays of settler skills such as spinning and wood carving, and presentations by members of First Nations.