Our costumed interpreters will be happy to tell you what life was like in the 19th century. Please ask them your questions and share your observations.

We suggest that you plan a three to four hour visit at Upper Canada Village. If you are only able to stay for one or two hours, we recommend the following tour routes:

ONE HOUR:
Cook's Tavern, Crysler Hall, Loucks Farm, Gazette Printing Office and one of the mills (Flour Mill, Woollen Factory or Saw Mill)

TWO HOURS:
Asselstine's Woollen Factory, Bellamy's Steam Flour Mills, Beach's Sawmill, Cook's Tavern, Crysler Store, Crysler Hall, Dressmaker's Shop, Loucks Farm, Gazette Printing Office, School House, Ross Farm and Blacksmith Shop.

Here is a description, in alphabetical order, of the historical buildings at Upper Canada Village:

Asselstine's Woollen Factory
Using the latest in machinery, Asselstine's factory transforms raw wool into yarn and blankets. The factory also provides custom services to local spinners and weavers. It shows the emergence of the new mechanized factory system.

Bakery
In the large brick oven, the bakers produce bread from flour ground at Bellamy's Mills. Such a bakery required the business from railway, canals, or steamboat traffic to supplement local commerce.

Beach's Sawmill
Using a water-powered muley saw, this custom mill cuts lumber for the local market. Sawmills of this type were common and indispensable to a society largely dependent on wood for shelter.

Bellamy's Steam Flour Mills
Driven by either a water turbine or steam engine, this largely automated mill grinds flour and feed to meet the community's requirements.

Blacksmith
The blacksmith shoes horses, repairs wagons, and fixes machinery for his enterprising neighbours. A good blacksmith was a "must" in the community.

Broommaker
The broommaker uses broom corn, imported from south of the border, to produce brooms for the local market. By the mid-19th century corn brooms had become popular because they were superior to those made from twigs, splints or corn husks.

Cabinetmaker
In addition to making repairs, the cabinetmaker produces custom-made furniture and other wooden items for local customers. Hard pressed by large mechanized furniture and chair factories, he also assembles mass-produced parts to stay in business.

Family Activity Centre
(Open July and August) Visiting children have the opportunity to try their hand at 1860s pastimes. Games of strategy and chance, popular 19th century crafts, and outdoor games such as races, skipping and kite flying are on the program. Workshops are also available.

Christ Church
Built in 1837, this stately, white church houses the dignified, formal liturgy and music of the local Anglican congregation, one of the main Protestant denominations in the area.

Cook's Tavern and Livery
The Tavern Keeper offers accommodation, food and beverages. Horses and carriages would have been rented. Small taverns such as this increasingly served a local clientele.

Crysler Hall
Once the home of a prosperous landowner, this building houses various exhibits and an audio visual production which will assist you in orienting yourself to the 1860s and the programming on site. Don't miss the fascinating exhibit on the "Lost Villages".

Crysler Store
The store offers a wide range of goods and services required by the community. Storekeepers bought their wares from wholesalers in Montreal and acted as a local clearing house for rags, wool, firewood, and local produce. They often provided postal services.

Dressmaker
The dressmaker promises to outfit ladies in the latest fashions from London, New York or Paris. She would trim a hat or stitch garments so that they were both fashionable and practical for every occasion.

Engine House
The Engine House shelters the "Queen", the Village's hand-pumped fire engine, and is the centre of activities for the local fire company. Mill owners often played a central role in obtaining firefighting equipment for their communities.

Gazette Printing Office
The Gazette staff produces a newspaper complete with local news, advertisements, a literary column, agricultural advice and foreign news copied from the telegraph and other newspapers.

Louck's Farm
A fully operating progressive farm practising a "mixed" type of agriculture. Loucks shows the use of horse power for planting, haying and harvesting. Mechanization was beginning on the more established farms in this period.

Lutheran Pastor's House
Local Lutherans built a comfortable residence for their pastor, whose religious and moral teachings supported the piety of many German Protestants in this region.

McDiarmid Home
The weaver will be found spinning yarn or working at the loom, to produce flannel, carpet or other textiles. This was an important source of income for many families.

Physician's Home
The interpreter will discuss the role of the doctor within the community and the latest advancements in medicine. Many people continued to rely on less scientific remedies, on homeopaths, or midwives.

Providence Chapel
A meeting place for the local Episcopal Methodists, this chapel is the centre for Sunday school lessons, Charity Concerts and Temperance Meetings. Methodists were the most numerous denomination in Canada West.

Robertson Home
The Robertson Home showcases a prospereous middle-class family whose Loyalist roots are evident in the furnishings and the early 19th century architectural style of the house.

Ross Farm
The farmer earns his income by sawing firewood and at times, by selling coopering products such as wooden buckets. Cordwood was sold to the Grand Trunk Railway, to steamers on the St. Lawrence, local residents and local mills. The farm women performed household duties, including quilting as demonstrated indoors.

School House
The Common School, supported now by property taxes is open to all who want to learn, though attendance is not compulsory. Once there, a student is drilled in manners and morals as well as the 3R's.

Tenant Farm
The farm family leases the land and relies on oxen and simple hand implements to complete their work. Many tenant farmers aspired to own their land once sufficient capital had been acquired.

Tinshop
The tinsmith makes a great variety of tinware for household and farm use. His bright, light and relatively inexpensive tinware was a popular replacement for pewter, wood and earthenware.

Union Cheese Factory
An increase in milk production led to the emergence of both privately owned and cooperative cheese factories by the 1860s. Canadian cheddar was produced for export and was a source of hard cash in a cash-starved economy.

Willard's Hotel
Willard's Hotel was a popular overnight accommodation along the upper St. Lawrence River during the nineteenth century. Today the restored hotel is a period restaurant offering visitors to Upper Canada Village a rest stop where they may purchase meals typical of the 1860s served by staff in period costume.

For a complete description of each building in Upper Canada Village, click on their names or visit the Touring the Village page.