Self-Guided Walking Tours and Virtual Heritage Resources

Walking Tours are a wonderful way to experience heritage in your local area, or when you’re traveling. You can go at your own pace and enjoy learning from research collected by others about the buildings you see. ACO has compiled a list of walking tours in Ontario, some created by our own branches and others created by municipalities or other organizations. Some of the tours below are virtual, so you can enjoy them from home. This list will continue to be updated, so please tell us if you know of any tours or resources we may have missed!

 

Port Hope

• Self-guided driving tour - ACO Port Hope’s Historic Barn Quilt Tour, recipient of a 2019 “Margaret and Nicholas Hill Cultural Heritage Landscape Award” from ACO. This tour features 23 Heritage Barns and winds through urban and rural Port Hope. You can download the map and get all of the info at http://barnquilttrailph.com/
• Walking and driving tours of Port Hope, produced by Port Hope Tourism: https://visitporthope.ca/driving-tours

 

Cobourg and Northumberland

• ACO Cobourg self-guided walking tours (three walks with a colour-coded map): https://www.cobourghistory.ca/architecture/cobourg-aco-walking-tour
• ACO Cobourg’s “Celebrating 150 Years: Discovering Cobourg’s Heritage.” A pdf document listing buildings that were standing in 1867 within the limits of modern-day Cobourg, street by street, with photos: https://www.cobourg.ca/en/my-cobourg/resources/Heritage/ACOs-Canada-150-Project-OCR.pdf
• Virtual tours of Cobourg’s Heritage Conservation Districts that you can enjoy at home (listed under “Walk Cobourg Heritage Tours”): https://www.cobourg.ca/en/my-cobourg/heritage.aspx
• Heritage Cramahe - Self guided walking tour of Colborne and Castleton. Tour maps available at the Cramahe Municipal Building in Colborne. Digital map included at https://heritagecramahe.ca/walking-tours/

 

Kitchener / Waterloo Region

• Walking tours of Kitchener heritage districts: https://www.kitchener.ca/en/arts-culture-and-events/walking-tours.aspx
• Waterloo Region Historic Countryside Tours: https://www.wilmot.ca/en/living-here/resources/Documents/Countryside-Tour---Region-of-Waterloo.pdf

 

London

• ACO London Branch 2023 Geranium Heritage House Tour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b001b371aef1d4e863dfeeb/t/6521a34b6621845a6aae52c6/1696703326838/2023_ACO_GHHT_WoodfieldRamble.pdf
• Digital guidebooks from past Geranium Heritage House Tours are available at https://acolondon.ca/GHHT

 

Toronto

• Beaches neighbourhood - self-guided walking tour created by ACO’s Toronto Branch: https://www.acotoronto.ca/res_files/TOBuilt-Walking-Tour_Beaches.pdf
• The Annex neighbourhood - self-guided walking tour created by ACO’s Toronto Branch: https://www.acotoronto.ca/res_files/TOBuilt-Walking-Tour_Annex.pdf
• Parkdale neighbourhood - self-guided walking tour created by ACO’s Toronto Branch: https://www.acotoronto.ca/res_files/TOBuilt-Walking-Tour_Parkdale.pdf
• Kensington Market neighbourhood - self-guided walking tour created by ACO’s Toronto Branch: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D5Q_hBwyrAyvrxQD4mt_XlRBsP6iBAyG/view
• Facadism self-guided walking tour created by Richard Longley for ACO’s Toronto Branch: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-PgOJF_PHHoJmk_09v9ULzr0hVuJcfsm/view
• Leaside neighbourhood: solo guided walking tour of west-central Leaside that was developed as a Jane’s Walk and published in the May 2020 edition of Leaside Life https://leasidelife.com/walking-tour-of-west-central-leaside/
• Leaside neighbourhood: solo guided walking tour of North Leaside: https://leasidelife.com/a-solo-guided-walking-tour-part-2-north-leaside/
• The Wychwood Barns Community Association has just launched its St. Clair West Oral History website. It is filled with great audio interviews, video stories, archival images and more. You can find it at https://stclairwest-oralhistory.com/

 

Clarington

• ACO's Clarington Branch has developed a wonderful set of self-guided tours of Tyrone, Bowmanville, Orono,  Newtonville, Newcastle, Jury Lands, and Solina. Clarington has put together these historic excursions for residents and tourists to uncover the history of the Municipality.

Kingston

• There are a number of walking tours exploring heritage, developed by the City of Kingston: you can find them HERE

Stratford

• ACO's Stratford/Perth Branch has a listing of its "Historical Plaque Properties" online, and you can read the the stories of many of Stratford's early residents linked to the houses they lived in; you can find this listing, with all of the stories, HERE.
• ACO's Stratford/Perth Branch created a detailed historic self-guided stroll through Cobourg Street, one of Stratford's original residential streets; you can find it HERE.

 

Caledon

• Heritage Caledon has developed a number of heritage walking tours for the towns of Caledon, Bolton, Alton, Terra Cotta, Cheltenham, Inglewood, and Mono Mills! You can find them all HERE.

Barrie

• The City of Barrie has a series of self-guided walking tours focusing on heritage, on its Tourism Barrie website HERE. 

Burlington

• A downtown heritage walking tour of Burlington was created by the City of Burlington and the Burlington Historical Society; you can find it HERE. 

Mississauga

• Heritage Mississauga has created a number of self-guided Heritage Tour brochures for many of the historic areas within the modern City of Mississauga, highlighting historic buildings and stories; you can find them HERE.

Brampton

• The City of Brampton has a downtown heritage walking tour to experience the city's historic architecture; you can find it HERE.

Lake of Bays

• The Township of Lake of Bays has digital versions of its heritage walking tour brochures, exploring local sites of heritage and cultural interest. The brochures are available HERE.

Online Heritage Experiences

Digital Doors Open Ontario now has virtual tours, videos and images available online: https://www.doorsopenontario.on.ca/pages/events 

The Elgin County Museum has just released their new colour catalogue for the exhibition called David Kilpatrick: Architect. This 24 page colour catalogue, prepared by Paul Baldwin of Ottawa, accompanies the exhibition which opened on January 18, and has now been extended until late July due to COVID19, and should continue when the Ontario government allows museums to reopen. Fortunately for all of us at home, the entire scholarly catalogue is now online (in colour) on the Elgin County Museum website. This is  wonderful treasure, especially for heritage lovers in western Ontario.  

Heritage Toronto has a wonderful 'Explore and Learn' section on their website, with many heritage stories to delve into, as well as self-guided walking tours.  

Thanks to the Ontario Heritage Trust, you can take a virtual tour of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres HERE.

Why not visit The Senate from home? While not new, this incredible virtual tour takes you though the building at your own pace, with a true feeling of immersion. You can find the tour HERE (make sure to click on "Take the virtual tour"). 

You can look around and inside the Ontario Legislature HERE.  

Attractions Ontario has a web listing of more than 50 online exhibits and virtual tours of buildings and museum collections HERE.

Many Canadian museums have collections and/or exhibitions online! You can find a listing with more details HERE.

Thanks everyone, please let us know about resources we should add so that everyone can enjoy them. We'll keep this page updated for you - please take care, we look forward to enjoying our heritage treasures in person again soon!