HistoricTO Walking Tours

Toronto History Museums welcomes you to HistoricTO – a new cultural experience that connects Toronto’s communities through time-ticketed, guided neighbourhood walking tours.

Interiors will remain closed to the public until further notice. To help reduce the spread of COVID-19, HistoricTO program is designed following Toronto Public Health COVID-19 Guidance for Cultural & Heritage Institutions and Attractions guidelines.

You can choose from a number of options:

• Gibson House Museum – Some of Willowdale’s stories are well-known, while others are seldom heard. This hour-long tour introduces some of the heroes, rebels, reformers and storytellers who called Willowdale home, from the 1830s all the way to modern times. Along the way, we’ll explore how stories are told and the ways they change based on who is telling them. Who do we consider heroes, and how do we celebrate them? Join us for an opportunity to stretch your curiosity as well as your legs.
• Montgomery’s Inn – Inns were at the very centre of their respective communities, providing conviviality and shelter, food and drink, and a safe place to share stories and ideas. Come walk with us where you will meet some of the people who traversed the grounds of Montgomery’s Inn and neighbouring Thomas Riley Park.
• Mackenzie House – William Lyon Mackenzie’s rebellion against a corrupt ruling elite, the struggle of desperate Irish immigrants, the resistance of enslaved People of Colour and the First Nations push back against colonial treaty practices are all part of the story of this city. This tour will explore the ways that systemic power dynamics were articulated and enforced in early Toronto and what people did to push back against this entrenched oppression.
• Fort York – The War of 1812 in Upper Canada has been covered in detail by a number of historians, but the lives of the ordinary people who were caught up in the conflict, especially Indigenous and persons of colour, have been until recently seldom described in any detail. HistoricTO presents Fort York National Historic Site with an opportunity to share some of the stories of these largely underrepresented groups.
• Colborne Lodge – Back in its heyday, Sunnyside was the most famous attraction Toronto had to offer. It was dubbed “the Poor Man’s Riviera” because it was supposedly accessible by all – except, it wasn’t. Who was allowed, and who wasn’t? Colborne Lodge’s HistoricTO tour invites you to explore the tales, trepidations and triumphs of Toronto’s Sunnyside shoreline and the south end of High Park.
• Todmorden Mills – On this HistoricTO tour at Todmorden Mills, guests will delve into the unwritten history of the Don Valley, from its origins as a fruitful land used by Indigenous Peoples to hunt, fish and camp, to the struggles of the labourers harnessing the massive power of the Don River to build the young city of York (Toronto) and feed its settlers. At Todmorden Mills guests can see the effects of industry on the environment and discover more recent attempts to undo some of the damage caused.
• Spadina Museum – With stops in the neighbourhood around Spadina Museum, this walking tour explores patterns of how people have lived on the lands above and below the Davenport escarpment and how that geography affected what we see today.
• Market Gallery – Toronto is home to some of the best mural, street and graffiti artists and art in the world. This exhibit showcases the ways these artists and artworks have transformed Toronto’s streets, laneways and parks into a city-wide art gallery. Featuring videos, special displays and photographs that showcase more than 100 StreetARToronto (StART) projects between 2012 and 2019, the exhibit tells the story of how local street artists have taken Toronto street art to a level of international renown.
• Scarborough Museum – Take a walk in Thomson Park and discover hidden and untold stories, landmarks and legacies, new and old that shape the ever changing community of Scarborough. Engage in crucial and complex conversations surrounding the diverse histories of Scarborough past, present and future. This hour long outdoor adventure through the park will deconstruct settler colonial history of the land and its peoples.

Pay-what-you-can (PWYC) with a suggested donation of $10

Date & Time: