A Day Out at Doon Heritage Village and Waterloo Region Museum .

#CANADA150 plug, great place to visit and learn about some history and step back in time.

Quaintly located in the not quite outskirts of Kitchener Ontario lies a beautiful Heritage Village, Doon to be exact. Along side of the Village is the Museum housing a permanent display and a temporary one.

Full disclosure I received complimentary passes to spend the day in order to facilitate this Blog post .

 Doon and the Museum are attached so you get two for one with your visit which is great .
Adult - $11 
Senior & student - $8
Children ages 5 to 12 - $5
Children ages 4 & under - Free
Family (2 adults & dependent children) - $25
(rates plus HST)  
With the ability to also purchase yearly passes , see official site for those prices.

Head HERE to visit the official website . There you can find calendar of events , planning your day etc.


Once inside we decided to tour the Village first .

Once you venture outside the Museum building you are met with the Train Station. "Originally located in Petersburg, Waterloo County . It was constructed in 1856. Original owner of the station was The Grand Trunk Railway. Gift of Canadian National Railway 1968."
"Engine 894, original owner, Canadian Pacific Railway. Constructed in 1911. Gift of City of Kitchener, 1964"

Engine 894

Railway Station

The stove/heater was just really cool so I snagged a picture. Inside the station.

I forgot to get the young ladies name who was in the station. She posed for the action shot of writing our ticket for travel. From here and every other picture that contains a period dressed employee, I asked for and received permission to use their photos.

I was given a guide book with all the Historical Information needed to post in the review. Sentences in quotes were taken and paraphrased from the guide book.

We left the train station without getting on the train. o be fair once my little guy saw this beautiful horse his only eye of focus was running to see him., Such a beauty .

The Peter Martin House and Farm was next stop .  Unfortunately I was unable to get a picture or the name of the young lady here, as she was preparing for her group of 3 graders in the house. I must say she was awesome with my little guy and making sure that we were well aware of the dangers as there were a couple fires burning .

 Had to get a picture of the inside outhouse for my son .

Rows of preserves in the cellar , which I so wish I had .

Just some pictures of the rooms. We had to keep it short and sweet int he house since the class was on its way . We got out in the nick of time and were able to venture to the Farm side.

Erin is the young lady at the barn and she was so great and patient with Zach. She used her extensive knowledge to tell him all about the chickens, her pigs and a bit about the farm. Anything but the animals were of course lost on him , but myself and my mother who accompanied us .

"Peter Martin House originally located in Waterloo Township, Waterloo County . Constructed in about 1820. Original owner, Peter Martin. Gift of the Waterloo regional Heritage Foundation 1974."
"Wagon Drive Shed built by Simeon Martin, 1969. Barns: Originally located on the "Old Shuh Farm", Kitchener, Waterloo County . Gift 1957.

Good luck for us to do much more exploring. Erin let us know there was another farm with sheep you can pet , so we had to head that way. We made a couple stops along the way , but the Sararas-Bricker  farm and house was the end gauntlet.


Headed out under the covered bridge in our quest to find the other farm. High hopes (and we did) to get into a couple other buildings on our way to the sheep.

Dry Goods and Grocery Store

Of course with the penny and wind up toys , someones attention was taken.

 "The store was the focus for commercial and social activity in the community. Items for sale were purchased with cash , credit , or produce taken in exchange." "Originally located in Delaware, Middlesex County . Constructed about 1830. Gift of A.R.Goudie., 1957"

 He was having so much fun, with the toys but a little girl snuck in the picture so I had to crop the silly toy they were playing with .

The Harness maker was a quick in and out . This was reproduced in 2016 . So everything was very new. Still very cool building , just new.

Headed to the Blacksmith shop.  The Blacksmith was like royalty, they provided a vital rural trade. This practice survived well into the 1900's.

 The Blacksmith on site was Robbie B.  He tried to get Zach to learn something little but interesting , but no the animals were hot on his mind and he knew we were close.

"This was reproduced in 2004 modeled after the Valentine Gies Blacksmith shop from 1894"



McArthur House

"By 1914 Peter McArthur was a popular author with a nation-wide audience thanks to his columns featured in the Toronto Globe and the Farmer's Advocate. "
"Originally located in Ekfrid Township, Middlesex County. Constructed about 1835. Gift of Donald Sinclair, 1962.

Marrisa held her post in the McArthur House .

We did it , we made it to Sararas-Bricker House and the animals. Well especially the sheep since you are allowed to give them some pets and love.

Zach walking past the beautiful garden .

Inside the house was Robyn. She was showing my mom here the recipe she used to make every one of the other volunteers cookies. Such a cool thing and the house smelled so good. From the wood burning stove to the hint of the freshly baked cookies.  She graciously made the treats since she was not entertaining any school children that day.

We made , we made it to the animals.

He was so happy to get the pet a sheep, and from the look on the sheep's face , she was so loving the pets.

This is Carla. Carla spent quite a bit of time with Zach and they spent time with the animals. She was so patient and so kind and Zach was so comfortable with her. I want to thank you so much Carla for the time at the farm with my son .

Lots of sheep pets.

The piggies.

The cows.

Playing in the cows freshly cleaned stalls.

He was so happy that one of the cows ( Blossom, I think) was waiting by the fence when we came out from the mini barn tour.

Left the village the long way around and walk through the fields and over the bridge to get back to take a walk through the museum . Through the ongoing exhibits. As they are getting the temp. section ready there was no exhibit there. To the disappointment of my little guy that the dinosaur one was gone.  He did in fact get to explore that exhibit when it was there .
The great part about the museum part is the small sections of toys on the floor on really cool circle carpets. I say this as it helps keep a little one preoccupied so you can see what is in each section .

Some pictures I took while walking through . Lots of stuff to see, and so much history.

The first cool circle with toys. We were lucky no one else was touring through.

This is Tim G. He was inside the museum ready and able to answer any questions. Tim spent quite a bit of time with Zach and they were taking pretend pictures with the really cool vintage Fischer Price toy camera. He, just like Carla was patient and so awesome. Zach was happy. So I thank you Tim.

On the way out of the Museum part , Zach ran right into the glass. I did not get the names of the two young ladies from the front desk who A) came running to make sure he was okay , and B) grabbed him some ice for his bump. Even though thanking them them , I would like to thank you both again and apologize for not getting your names to personally call you out in a thank you here.  

This amazing statue "On The Wings Of An Eagle" greats you on the way in to the museum . Though we actually spent the time on the way out admiring it .  "This was chosen to respect the first inhabitants of this land."

We had such a wonderful day out. I want to thank all the amazing staff and the Museum for hosting us there on June 8 2017.

If you have the time , I really suggest stepping into the past . And what better year than Canada's 150th