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Fort York
Category: Arts & Entertainment Museums Museums [Edit]
100 Garrison RdToronto, ON M5V 3K9
(416) 392-6907
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
4 reviews for Fort York
4 reviews in English
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Review from dee w.
Toronto, ON
9/8/2011
I think it is amazing how much we as Canadians / Torontonians don't know about where we reside. It is perhaps not the MOST outwardly interesting places simply because there is not a lot of razzle tazzle. I personally may hold an event there just to get more people people to this significantly historic place.
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Review from Sergey S.
4/26/2011
Fort York is a very special place not only for Canada, but for the whole North America, in general. Very few of those forts survived the past couple of hundred years, and even less of them are maintained in such a good shape today.
Lots of enthusiasts work is involved in keeping Fort York alive, and those guys are not just digging through the volumes of historic documents, but also pull out some pretty impressive reenactments - shooting the rifles and the old cannon, and marching with the old banners in a painstakingly recreated uniforms...
Probably the most valuable thing about Fort York is that its barracks and blockhouses, once burned by the enemy fire and now so quiet - turned into a museum rooms full of interesting artifacts, which are keys to understand the history of this continent. Lots of people with Canadian passport in their pocket barely have any idea about the past of their country - and forgetting the past is a sure way to get rid of the future.
So if you have any respect or interest to those who have built this civilization the way it is, you must visit Fort York. Canada starts here. -
Review from Kelly O.
8/17/2010
You know how you live in a city, and never really go to any of its sites or museums? I don't want to be that guy, and I can literally see Fort York from my balcony, so this week I popped by to poke around.
Fact: Fort York is Canada's largest collection of original War of 1812 buildings!
This place is often busiest on holidays such as Canada Day, but on a random Monday afternoon, it was very quiet. They did have uniformed British soldiers here to lower the flag at 4:30 in a formal ceremony, so that was neat. The families attending seemed to enjoy it. They can also take cool pictures of you with an 1812 cannon and that kind of thing. They have a schedule of presentations and tours that are conducted multiple times daily.
The exhibits of the soldier's quarters and officers' quarters was very cool (if you enjoy re-created homes, complete with dishes and furniture). The archaeological information in the basement was very neat, and signs are posted in 6 other languages.
Fact: Fort York was used as a military training facility until the 1930s!
The artifacts on display in a couple of the buildings however were really shabby - not the artifacts themselves, but the actual signage and display cases. I mean, this is the ONLY museum I have ever been to where Bizarro comics are IN the artifact cases. A couple things were actually school projects, for real. Yay for involving the community, but boo for it looking a bit tacky and waaay tired.
I am going to give this place 4 *, because it is very interesting, well cared for, centrally located, and they are currently in the process of developing a new visitors centre, which will overhaul the somewhat disappointing displays.Listed in: Best Things to do for Free…
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Review from Aaron B.
7/3/2010 1 photo
A little bit of Canadian colonial history right downtown. I took a stroll through this place when I took a wrong turn during my jog and ended up learning a lot about the history of Toronto (aka York) and some battles against Americans and even when the current coastline and the islands in Lake Ontario will created.
Apparently on some days they have tours and reenactments of some kind. It offers period rooms according to the website but, but I don't know what's in any of those buildings or which ones are original and which have been added, but I'll probably go back when I'm not in the middle of exercising to find out.
It's small and there isn't much doing on... I guess even on a good day. Rather blah as far as historic sites go because it looks totally restored...like it never saw a battle even though it was a pivotal point in three attacks on the area during the war of 1812. It's always kinda cool to see 200-year old buildings, but it was not the highlight of my day actually. Anyway, it's right there off Bathurst so maybe check it out when you're in the area.
