Geerthana Uthayakumar Yesterday, we decided to visit the Pickering Museum Village. The children really enjoy visiting the ROM and they enjoyed our trip to the Canadian Automotive Museum so I thought another museum visit would be a great idea, particularly because there is so much potential to learn in these kinds of environment.
The Pickering Museum Village is the largest living museum in the city of Durham and brings the pioneer experience to life. The historic village, consisting of 19 heritage buildings dating from 1810, is situated on the banks of Duffins Creek. Our guide mentioned that Duffins Creek is an amazing spot to watch the salmon migration in September so that is something we will be looking into as well. The village includes a blacksmith’s shop, log barn and house, school house, temperance house, steam barn, chapel, and a General Mills store. We opted for the guided tour and we were not disappointed. We learnt all about pioneer life which included a hands-on demonstration on how to grind wheat to make flour. The kids played games that pioneer children would have played and sampled Snickerdoodles and a variant of pancakes. My children had so many questions which our amazing tour guide answered with patience as she shared her abundance of knowledge. The museum was a very quiet, calm, and scenic place. The beautiful trail to the village and back was definitely one of my favourite parts of our day.
Here are some things that you might want to know if you plan on heading down to the Pickering Museum Village:
- The museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from July until Labour Day from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm (last admission 3:30 pm) The museum opens at noon on Sundays.
- June through September, the museum is only open on the weekend.
- Parking is free.
- General admission for adults is $10 and for children 4-14 is $7. Admission for seniors and youth 15 and over is $9. Special pricing for families with up to 2 adults and 5 children is available for $30.
- Guided tours of the museum village are available during the public open season. Tours offer interactive opportunities to explore Pickering’s past with a knowledgeable Tour Guide. Tours start at 11:00 am, 12:45 pm, and 2:30 pm Wednesdays to Saturdays and at 12:45 pm, 1:45 pm and 2:45 pm on Sundays and lasts about 1.5 hours.
- Most buildings are wheel- chair accessible but the grounds do not have sidewalks and are not even.
- Children have the opportunity to choose a mystery history kit to complete during their visit. The kit can be picked up at the gift shop for no additional fee, and once complete, returned for a prize.
- Flash photography is not permitted.
- Drinks are sold within the gift shop but food is not sold on the premises.
Here are our favourite photographs taken at the Pickering Museum Village:
