Food Focus Days:
The earliest settlers survived because of the indigenous foods they learned about from the local indians. In due course, they introduced new species brought from the old world as their farms and gardens developed.
Food Focus Days are held at the tollkeeper's cottage from 11am to 5pm (or until sold out). Visitors receive a free brochure, and may purchase the foods featured that day plus historic recipes using that food. Also offered at a special price are copies of Dorothy Duncan's history book on Canadian food: Nothing More Comforting: Canada's Heritage Food (which contains recipes).
Tollkeeper's Walking Tours:
These are repeats of the series given in May of the four corners around the tollkeeper's cottage, one area at a time. All the tours begin at the tollkeeper's cottage at 2pm and last approximately two hours. Tours 3 and 4 (northwest and northeast) involve walking up hills.
Each tour costs $5, or passes for all four are $18. Tours are "rain or shine".
Mementos of the tollkeeper's cottage
Help support the project - and reward yourself - with a little bit of Toronto's history. Available from CHP - see Contact Us page.
Souvenir Cut Nails: $10 each.
Salvaged from The tollkeeper's cottage as it was being stripped
down, these are rusty handmade nails dating from about 1835 which could not be re-used in the restoration work - on a card with some history - makes a nice gift of some authentic history.
Cedar Shavings: $5 per large bag.
Produced by the volunteers who made the shakes for the roof, these shavings vary from strips to bits and are good for garden mulch, fire starters, or may be reduced in size mechanically for composting.
Cedar Sachets: $3 each.
Little bags of tiny cedar bits to scent and mothproof a clothes closet, made by volunteers.
Maple Syrup: $9 per 300ml
Each year CHP orders fresh syrup from the Beaver Valley and sells small bottles all year after the Sweet Heritage event.
Tickets: $15 per lecture or $50 for the series of four. They can be purchased Saturdays at the museum (10 am - 5 pm), from a CHP member or by calling 416-515-7546 or just pick them up at the lecture (if room available). Tickets are limited to a maximum of 30 people per lecture.
Where: The Tollkeeper's Cottage, NW corner of Bathurst and Davenport.
When: Starting promptly at 7 pm.
There will be a break part way through the evening for tea or coffee. After each lecture, the lecturer will accept questions from the audience.
The Tollkeeper's Cottage is a museum, owned by the Community History Project and operated by its trained volunteers. Admission is by a contribution of $2 or more per person towards operating costs. Around the cottage are heritage plantings which have been extended into the park itself. Additional Events and details are provided here and on the bulletin board at the Cottage as soon as they become available. |
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| Jan 17 - Sun. |
How the Girls went out to play Fashion History Productions - organized by Sarah Walker and Diane Reid. "How the Girls went out to play" covers the years from 1852 to 1950. It is happening at Parkwoods, in Oshawa from 2pm to 4pm |
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| Spring Lecture Series. |
This Spring series of 4 lectures provides insight into the lives and history of Toronto's aboriginal landowners and their predecessors. It will be held in The Tollkeeper's Cottage, continuing in the Fall with another series of four lectures on subjects relating to the study area. Mouse over here for ticket and venue information, and here for background re the Mississaugas of the New Credit. |
Feb.3 - Wed. |
Who Are The Real Indians in Canada by former New Credit Chief Carolyn King |
| Feb. 10 Wed. |
The History of the New Credit Mississaugas from 1650 by New Credit Land Claims Expert and Historian Margaret Sault |
Feb. 15 - Mon. |
Heritage Day at the Cottage. Open Noon to 5pm. Traditional items are available such as door 'snakes' or postcards with antique septa toned picture of the cottage.. |
| Feb. 17 - Wed. |
New Credit History Through Poetry by New Credit Councillor and Poet Stacey LaForme |
| Feb. 24 - Wed. |
Understanding the Facts of Oral History in Defining Anishnawbe Culture: presented by New Credit Elder and Storyteller Gary Sault |
| Mar. 17 - Wed | St. Patrick's Day - 2 pmto 5 pm: a special exhibit at the Cottage on Toronto's Irish and celebration of the Cottage's Irish tollkeepers. $5 includes tea, authentic Irish sodabread and marmalade, as well as a tour of the cottage! |
| Mar 20 Sat | Closed for March break |
| Mar 24 Wed | Life and Learning in the Early City - talk by Spadina Rd. Library Branch Head Mariella Bertelli at the Cottage at 7pm. Admission is free. |
Apr 10- Sat. |
Shakemaking: all day today. Call the office to sign up to make shakes. We need them to complete  restoration work on the Cottage's exterior porch roof. We are able to sell a few complete shakes that will be mounted intact on the porch roof for $20 each to persons wishing to memorialize someone by buying a shake and writing that person's name on the back. The rest of the needed shakes must be shaved, then have sections cut off to fit the three planes of the roof. When this is finished, we will still have some shakes left for sale. When you come to work, you may wish to bring a watch to see how long it takes you to make one shake--after you have learned how.
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Apr. 17 - Sat. |
Sweet Heritage- Maple- 10 am to 5 pm at the Cottage. See the museum's maple-related artifacts, purchase some fresh syrup or maple sugar to take home ($9 small bottle, $31 quart), or a plate of 3 small pancakes with maple syrup to eat right away ($1.50), coffee $1, or historic recipes using maple syrup ($.50) and learn about the incredible tree that is Canada's national symbol (as well as being a significant indigenous food source). A Food focus day. (mouseover for more information) |
Apr. 24 - Sat. |
Cleanup of the Cottage grounds and The Tollkeeper's Park - 10 am until finish. All Tollkeeper's volunteers and neighbourhood users of the park are cordially invited to join us. Come on out and do what you can for as long as you can to help clean up the Tollkeeper's Cottage and the Park, including pruning, weeding and just plain old clean-up! Bring gloves, rakes, shovels, saws, clippers - whatever you can! |
5 May - Wed |
CHP President Jane Beecroft will give a talk on "A New Look at Toronto's Railroad history at 2pm in the Spadina Road Library. |
15 May - Sat. |
Giant Book Sale at the Cottage - all day. This sale will offer all of the remaining supply of donated books. Books will be brought from our office for the occasion, or donated by members. Come and clean us out of books. |
| Mon. May 24 |  Victoria Day. Open 3 to 5pm. We have scheduled a Victorian tea to accompany the showing of a new exhibit on the tollkeepers' Queen. We'll celebrate the Tollkeeper's Queen with a new display and the Victorian tea at the cottage. The Queen lasted longer than the tolling system in Canada. (her span 1837 to 1901 vs ours of 1835 to 1895) Come and celebrate one of the most important influences on Canada's development from colony to nation. |
May 29 - Sat |
Doors Open at The Cottage -10 am- 5 pm both days. Free tours of the Cottage and grounds will be given. Limerick contest on a subject to be announced.. There will be a first, second and third prizewinner each day (for $15, $10 and $5 prizes) and the winning entries will be published on this website. Learn about writers who lived near the tollhouse between 1835 and 1895 from our specially prepared brochure for the occasion. Information on becoming a docent will also be available. Limerick winners from this year and last year are posted HERE. (click to go to doors open web site) |
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Land Claim: On Tuesday June 8, the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation will meet with Toronto City Council regarding the end of the Toronto Purchase Land Claim. This ends a wait of 223 years for settlement of this Land Claim, for a 14 by 28 mile tract of land upon which Toronto and much of the GTA sits. This is to date the largest land claim settlement in Canadian history. The public may attend this (and any other) council meeting, with this particular item coming up later in the morning of June 8. Bring your camera for this historic meeting!
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The Solstice. National Aboriginal Day. The cottage will be open from 2 to 4pm, to offer the public an opportunity to see something of the history of Toronto's landowners, the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, with a display about the native inhabitants of pre-Contact Ontario, and a map of the present Reserves in Ontario, and about our own Mississaugas who used to live all around the Cottage's location. |
| July 1- Thurs | Is our Anniversary Day. The cottage will have been open officially for two years. |
August 2 Mon |
SIMCOE DAY
2 pm to 5 pm
Visit us to learn about Ontario's Lieutenant-Governors starting with John Graves Simcoe |
Aug. 21-22 Sat. - Sun. |
Mississauga Pow Wow. Visit the Pow-Wow of the Mississaugas of the New Credit on their Reserve near Hagersville - our aboriginal landowners: Drummming, dancing, arts & crafts, exhibits, learning circles. All day, Saturday & Sunday. The cottage will be closed 21 Aug. |
Aug. 28 Sat. |
We will have a special showing of videos of the tree planting done at the New Credit Reserve, and the Council to Council meeting of the New Credit elders and Toronto City Council, held earlier at Toronto City Hall. |
| Fall Lecture Series. |
This Fall series of 4 lectures , provides insight into the lives and history of Toronto's early residents. It will be held in The Tollkeeper's Cottage, Special Pricing of $7 for each lecture or $25 for whole series. 7:00pm at the Cottage.. ,. |
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Sept 8 - Wed. |
. Jacques and Hay, 19th Century Toronto Furniture - Makers with examples from her own collection, : by Norie Jacobs |
| Sept 15 - Wed. |
Eating on the Move: From First Nations to Newcomers by Author and expert Dr. Dorothy Duncan |
Sept 22- Wed. |
Cemeteries: Overlooked Heritage Assets: revelations on benefits by expert Marjorie Stuart, |
| Sept 29 - Wed. |
A New Look and New Insights on the Shoreline and Island: presented by lawyer and author Jane Fairburn |
Oct 30 Sat |
Annual Apples and Pumpkins Event, 10am - 5pm. Sale of heritage apples, pumpkins for pies and jack o' lanterns, cook books, heritage recipes for apples and pumpkins, and lots of home baking! At the tollkeeper's cottage from 10am - 5pm. These are Food Focus days. |
Knitting Workshop - 11 am in the 
