Upper Canada Village

Upper Canada Village

Construction of Upper Canada Village began in 1958 as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway project, which required the permanent flooding of ten communities in the area, known as The Lost Villages. Upper Canada Village was a part of the project's heritage preservation plan. Many of the buildings in Upper Canada Village were transported directly from the villages to be flooded.

The park, owned and operated by the St. Lawrence Parks Commission, was opened to the public in 1961.

Other buildings from the Lost Villages were moved to Ault Park, where they comprise a living museum run by the Lost Villages Historical Society.

The park also incorporates a memorial to the Battle of Crysler's Farm, a War of 1812 battle which also took place on land submerged by the Seaway project.

Upper Canada Village endeavours to depict life in a rural English Canadian setting during the year 1866. Featured at the site are over 40 historical buildings, including several working mills (woollen mill, grist-mill and sawmill) and trades buildings (blacksmith, tinsmith, cabinetmaker, cooper, bakery, cheese-maker). Farming is demonstrated through the growing, harvesting or processing of heritage vegetables and livestock. Aspects of late 19th-century domestic arts, social life, music, religion, and politics are also discussed, interpreted and demonstrated at by staff dressed in clothing of the period. Local gardens in the village feature the flora and fauna commonly grown in the summer

Asselstine 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 Flour Mill

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.

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.

Livery and Cook's Tavern (in background)

Cook's Tavern

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.

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.

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.

Telegraph Signal Tower

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.

Loucks 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 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 House

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 House

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 House

The Robertson Home showcases a prosperous 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.

Shoemaker

Shoemaking was a popular trade in the 1860s. Our shoemaker makes primarily men's brogues, a common style of work shoe during the mid-nineteenth century. Visitors can see, touch and learn about how these straight-lasted, wooden pegged work shoes in their various stages in their construction.

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.

Tinsmith's Shop

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.

Tow Scow at dock near entrance

The 1973 version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, starring Josh Albee, Buddy Ebsen, Jane Wyatt and Vic Morrow was shot entirely on the grounds of Upper Canada Village.

The Museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Upper Canada Village.

• Upper Canada Village
• Promotional video for Upper Canada Village, 1972, Archives of Ontario YouTube Channel