Woodside National Historic Site
The house and the park located on 11.5 acre property covered with mature trees. The park offers perfect place for walks and picnincs, beautiful shaded lawns and paths during the summer. The house opens for visitors from October till Chrismas.
Mackenzie King House
The house dates back to Victorian period, was built by James Colquhoun. After his death in 1877 varuois tenants occupied the house. One of them was the Kings family. They lived in this house from 1886 till 1893. The house was a home for a boy who later became Canada’s tenth Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. The family had four children, and while visiting the house we can see their rooms and well kept personal items. His father John King was a lawyer, and he taught his kids English, French, math and science. There is a large collection of boks, many of them are rare originals…
The house has a spacious living room with piano. The room was filing up with various guests during many holidays…
Travel at that time was a challenge, so the house has a nice guest bedroom with all the necessary items…
The sisters were sharing the bedroom, we can see some of the clothing and original furniture.
We had a chance to enter the room of William, quite small and with very modest furnishings. The bedrooms are all on the second floor and interestingly, there is no heating – only the first floor of the house is heated, so in the winter the heavy blanket and the hot water bottle did the job!
Woodside National Historic SIte, house of William Lyon Mackenzie King
The most important item of the kitchen is the original wood-buning stove. It is fully operational and if you visit the place during Christmas Holidays you may be lucky to try fresh baked cookies or bread! They say tastes amazing!
The House is not just a museum, there are different events and workshops offered for students.
To learn more visit https://www.explorewaterlooregion.com/listing/woodside-national-historic-site-kitchener/ and https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/on/woodside
