One-Tank Trip for
Sept. 2/17
By Jim Fox
Knock, knock who’s
there?
It’s just us
getting a peak at Ontario cultural treasures that are often closed to the
public.
Doors Open, a
program of the Ontario Heritage Trust, swings into its final month for this
season that highlights cultural and heritage spots across the province.
Things kick off
this month on Sept. 9 and 10 in Kawartha Lakes highlighting “150 years of cultural
and religious diversity.”
They wind up on
Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 as Halton invites visitors to “share its rich heritage,
cultural diversity and stunning natural beauty.”
 |
| Doors Open visitors
can climb to the top of Port Burwell’s historic lighthouse. |
This free event
started 15 years ago and has counted about seven-million visits to “thousands
of unique buildings and spaces.”
Here’s a look at
some of the special things to see and do with variable hours, often 10 a.m. to
4 p.m.
Shine your light
Climb to the top of
Port Burwell’s historical lighthouse for a view of Lake Erie, the harbour and
surrounding village.
During Doors Open
East Elgin on Sept. 16 Aylmer and Bayham have also partnered to offer sites.
The 1840’s wooden
lighthouse, restored in 1986, played a vital role in guiding Lake Erie ships to
safety.
 |
| Aficionados can
find historic items from three centuries at the Fashion History Museum in
Cambridge. |
The marine museum
has collections of historical and marine artifacts, period photographs,
lighthouse lenses and a model of the railway car ferry Ashtabula.
Also in Port
Burwell is the 181-year-old Trinity Anglican Church, constructed entirely of
wood with original stained-glass windows and bell.
Waterloo Region goes
all out on Sept. 16 highlighting “Identity + Innovation” with 50 participating
sites “selected for their architecture, heritage or the interesting things
going on inside.”
This includes the
Centre for International Governance Innovation, a think-tank on global issues,
at the historic Seagram Distillery site.
 |
| A picture-perfect
spot is the Otterville Mill built in 1845 on the Otter River. |
The Detweiler
Meetinghouse in Roseville is Ontario’s only surviving stone Mennonite building
of its kind with an 1855 appearance, Georgian hand-blown windows and original
pine floors.
The Fashion History
Museum in Cambridge is where the Hespeler Post Office operated from 1929 and has
12,000 items from the past 300 years.
Would you believe?
London’s Doors
Open, Sept. 16 and 17, is called “Unconventional. Unbelievable. Unforgettable.”
With 40 locations,
sites include the Banting House National Historic Site, HMCS Prevost and the Hume
Cronyn Memorial Observatory on the Saturday from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., with
stargazing starting at 7 p.m.
Doors Open
Oxford-Norwich, Sept. 23, invites visitors to discover its Quaker history,
early Black settlement and agricultural heritage.
Locations include
the 1856 African Methodist Episcopal Church site and Cemetery in Otterville
where early settlers were escaped slaves and free immigrants.
The picturesque Otterville
Mill was built in 1845 and is run by water power supplied by a dam on the Otter
River.
There’s also Gunn’s
Hill Artisan Cheese and Ross Butler Agricultural Art Gallery, both at RR 4,
Woodstock, the Norwich District Museum and the 1875-era Norwich United Church.
St. Marys, known as
“Stonetown,” invites visitors on Sept. 30 to see the town “filled with
architecture featuring locally quarried limestone.”
One such building
is the St. Marys Town Hall built in 1892 of the local stone “with contrasting
sandstone accents.”
 |
| The Canadian
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Marys can be toured during Doors Open. (Jim
Fox photo) |
Visitors can tour
the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in its 1860s limestone building
on a picturesque site overlooking the locally famous quarry swimming hole.
Built of stone in 1867
is the Westover Inn, known as a “charming Victorian mansion,” that was a Roman
Catholic seminary in the 1930s.
Other Doors Open events are in Belleville and Quinte
West, Sept. 16; Carleton Place, Minden Hills and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Sept.
16-17; Grimsby, King Township, Mississauga and Wellington North, on Sept 23.
The season winds up with Brampton,
Burlington, Markham, Orillia, Oshawa, Timmins, all on Sept. 30, and Halton
Region, Sept. 30-Oct. 1.
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