Toronto 
You can visit Banting House National Historic Site of Canada, Nancy Island Historic Site, and many other museums and historic sites for free this weekend.
Fanshawe Pioneer Village
Every April to October, Doors Open Ontario invites the public to explore the province’s heritage for free. Launched in 2002, the initiative has attracted over 7.3 million visits, showcasing sites that blend historical charm with modern functionality.
This weekend, events will take place in Thousand Islands, Simcoe County, Waterloo Region, London, and Aurora, perfect for anyone interested in architecture, history, or a unique day out.
Thousand Islands – September 19
Credit: Michael Sherrer/Brockville Railway Tunnel
What stories are hiding behind Brockville’s historic doors? On Friday, September 18, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Doors Open Thousand Islands invites you inside 16 local sites, many with histories stretching back more than a century.
You can explore Fulford Place, the grand Edwardian mansion built between 1899 and 1901 by Senator George T. Fulford, whose fortune came from selling “Pink Pills for Pale People.” Brockville City Hall, opened in 1864, offers another surprise: it sits directly above the historic Brockville Railway Tunnel, Canada’s first railway tunnel.
Other stops include the Brockville Arts Centre, a former town hall, marketplace and fire station dating to 1858, and the Brockville Museum, housed in the circa-1815 Isaac Beecher House. You can even visit an 1895 building now home to 1000 Islands Brewing Company. History here comes with plenty of unexpected turns.
London — September 19 & 20
What if one weekend could take you from a 200-year-old cemetery to the home of a medical pioneer? Doors Open London returns Sept. 19 and 20, 2026, with 40 sites and a 25th-anniversary theme, “Cheers to Years: Celebrating 25 Years Together.”
You can step inside Banting House, the 1907 home connected to Sir Frederick Banting, explore London’s oldest residence at Eldon House, built in 1834, or wander Brick Street Cemetery, where graves date to 1813 and include early settlers and War of 1812 veterans.
At Fanshawe Pioneer Village, 30 heritage buildings bring life from 1820 to 1920 into view with costumed interpreters and demonstrations. Military history also gets a spotlight at the 1st Hussars Museum and a surviving 1942 building from London Airport’s wartime training base.
Expect guided tours, performances, historical re-enactments and plenty of unexpected corners of London to discover.
Simcoe County — September 19
Simcoe County’s history is tucked into places you might pass without a second glance, from wartime sites and pioneer buildings to one of Canada’s oldest surviving Black churches. Doors Open Simcoe County runs September 19, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., opening 23 sites across the region.
At Nancy Island Historic Site, you can revisit the 1814 Battle of Nottawasaga Bay and see the preserved hull of the HMS Nancy. Fort Willow Conservation Area traces another wartime story as a former supply depot along the Nine Mile Portage.
Nancy Island Historic Site
For a different chapter, visit the Oro African Methodist Church, built between 1846 and 1849 by formerly enslaved settlers and now a National Historic Site. You can also explore the 1833 Coldwater Mill, an 1840s log homestead at Coldwater Museum, or Stephen Leacock’s lakeside summer retreat, built in 1928.
It is the kind of day where every stop opens another piece of Simcoe County’s past.
Waterloo Region — September 19
Some of Waterloo Region’s most interesting stories sit behind doors you would not normally get to open. Doors Open Waterloo Region returns Saturday, September 19, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with 27 sites spanning historic homes, churches, research spaces and unusual remnants of the past.
At the Ghost Village of Black Horse Corner, you can explore surviving buildings from a vanished rural hamlet, including an 1835 stone cheese factory. Nearby, Brubacher House, an 1850s Mennonite farmhouse, offers a glimpse into the lives of early Pennsylvania German Mennonite settlers.
In Kitchener, the 1852-53 Waterloo County Gaol reveals how one of the region’s oldest buildings escaped demolition and found a new purpose. You can also climb the Waterloo Pioneers Memorial Tower for views over the Grand River.
For something completely different, Perimeter Institute opens a window onto theoretical physics, pairing big questions about the universe with award-winning architecture
Aurora — September 20
Aurora’s past is hiding in some unexpected places, from a Victorian doctor’s home to a Masonic lodge decorated with historic murals. Doors Open Aurora takes place Sunday, September 20, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with 20 sites and experiences to explore.
One standout is Hillary House National Historic Site, built in 1862. The Gothic Revival home is now the Koffler Museum of Medicine, where preserved rooms and a collection of medical instruments reveal how doctors once lived and worked.
You can also peek inside the Rising Sun Masonic Lodge, housed in an 1877 building, or visit the Odd Fellows Block, rebuilt after Aurora’s 1887 fire. At Aurora Town Square, a restored 1926 Lorne fire engine adds another piece of local history.
There is also art, pottery, exhibitions, church architecture and a storytelling walk, making this an easy way to discover corners of Aurora you might normally pass by.
