What's New? -

Please consult events page for current events, which are added periodically. Also read the Scrolling Bulletin on the home page for upcoming events.

August 2010
Added information on the food focus Pumpkin and Apple.
May 2010
Added information on the Native Land Claim to the events page. We also have tee shirts available for $20 at the cottage. Open Victoria day, 24 May, as well as each Saturday
April 2010
Added activities in April and May 2010. We have a supply of fresh syrup or maple sugar to take home ($9 small bottle, $31 quart). Added this year birdhouse making pics to slideshow.

March 2010
Mar 11 added activities in March, April and May 2010. We now have postcards for sale at the Cottage at $5 each.  They are sepia-tone, and were taken with a 1920's camera.  They give a very nice sense of what the cottage looked like 150 years ago.

February 2010
Feb 1 added details to Native lecture series. Added dates for fall lecture series Sept 8 thru Sept 29, 2010.

January 2010
Jan 16 added knitting workshop this Saturday and other winter activities.. Set up 2010 event page, featuring a native lecture series in Feb

December 2009
Dec 16 Added protest of destruction of 7 Austin Terrace; added details of this year's Christmas Cookie Sale this weekend. Added visit of Harbour Collegiate students to slideshow 3;

November 2009
Nov 17: Added date of this year's Christmas Cookie Sale and Pudding pickup (Dec 19).
Nov 1: Highlighted Christmas Pudding sale (deadline 20 November) , and other winter activities.

October 2009
October 6: Received more information gathered by Marjorie Stuart, on tollkeepers who lived in the tollhouse..after her lecture. Thanks

September 2009
September 20-30 : Updated wish list to include current list of desired furnishings etc; cancelled fall walking tours; refined description of food focus and lecture information series starting 23 Sept. Christmas Puddings are available again also.

July 2009
July 10: Added Simco day schedule, and other fall activities

June 2009
June 22: Big news! Official word has been received that, effective 1 June 1 2009, we are formally registered as a CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION ( rather than a non-profit society.). As such, our official name is the COMMUNITY HISTORY PROJECT. We will be able to directly issue tax receipts for donations.

A new donor of her talents is Suzanne Rusywich, who runs a landscaping service, and has volunteered to cut our lawn at the Tollkeeper's Cottage free of charge. With our reseeding of the lawn and her lawn care, our grounds now look lovely! If any of our neighbors want to hire her for their own gardens, she can be reached at 416 533 0260.

June 20: Added June activity, Fall Lecture series, Food days, First year anniversary of the renovated cottage.

May 2009
May 27: Added Limerick prize winners.
May 17: Added information on volunteer jobs including Docent; updated scrolling bulletin.
May 15: Added information on Doors Open event.

April 2009
April 30: Updated scrolling bulletin, and added information to what's new about the Doors Open event, the birdhouse workshop event, and the May walk event.
April 9: Details added to Sweet Heritage event.
April 2: Added events to scrolling bulletin. Added pictures to slide show and to coming events page.

March 2009
March 23: Knitting lessons each Saturday added to scrolling bulletin. Started 3rd slide show to show ongoing activities from now. Added pictures from our first bus tour visit on St. Patricks day, and from the birdhouse building activity to the slide show and the coming events page.

March 20: Additional detail added for storytelling event and Knitting event on scrolling bulletin. Detail presented immediately on mouseover to emphasize events happening soon.

March 17: Additions made about our participation in the Doors Open event the weekend of 23-24 May on the Events page.

March 13: Additions made changing the last hiking date to 31 May. Added some information to the scroll window on the front page. Updated detail about the annual Heritage Planting event April 25 on the Events page.

February 2009
February 24: Our first webmaster, Norm Sadler, passed away. In his memory, we have planted a little garden of serviceberry shrubs around the lamp standard on the south side of the historic building.

January 2009
January 26: Several additions were made to the Events page and some photo revisions made to slideshow #2, including a large (readable) version of the Victorian memorial sampler (slide #20).

January 10: The slideshows have been revamped and updated to include photos of the Official Opening of the Tollkeeper's Cottage and of the inside of the Cottage.

January 05: Events page for 2009 started, with the Spring Lecture Series in February and March. The Tollkeeper's Bulletin on the Home page has also been updated to highlignt the Spring Lecture Seris..

December 2008
December 11: Scrolling window on the Home page updated.

October 2008
October 05: A few minor updates: more images were added to the Events page and the contents of the scrolling window on the Home page were updated. (The latter was actually done a few weeks back - sorry!).

August 2008
August 08: The Tollkeeper's Bulletin on the Home page updated, including the addition of info re the project's need for new docents.

August 02: Several updates have been made to the Events page and the August CHP newsletter has been added.

July 2008
July 22:The Background page was slightly revised and an image of the Davenport Road historical plaque added.

July 20: the Friends page of the Cottage's supporters was completely updated.

July 15: the Wish List page was updated and What Volunteers Can Do was added to a link on the Join the Parade page.

The Cottage is now officially open (Saturdays, 10am - 5pm) and this site will be changing over the next little while in recognition of that fact. In the meantime you may find sections of the site that are outdated or no longer as relevant as they once were. Bear with us as we work to manage the transition.

June 2008
The Tollkeeper's Cottage project is entering a new phase: it's been an incredible 15 year journey of dedication, study, labour, contribution and fund-raising by volunteers of all sorts from discovery to restoration to publicity, but the next turning point is almost here - July 1, 2008 - Canada Day - and the Official Opening of The Tollkeeper's Cottage! We hope you'll attend.

Although there's still more to do to restore the Cottage as we'd like, significant progress has been made. As the project gradually shifts from the restoration period to the public awareness and use period, this website will reflect those changes.

In mid-June, revisions to the scrolling sidebar on the Home page focus on the Official Opening, and a very tentative new page ("We're Open") has been added to the menu. Please bear with us as we work to fill in all the obvious blanks!

May 2008
The home page scroller was again updated on May 18 to indicate the extreme disruption in the area during the Official Opening due to Bathurst road rebuilding and upgrades, and suggested solutions around it.

The schedule of events has been updated for 2008. The tremendous effort and disruption involved in the CHP office move together with the incredible effort involved in preparing the tollkeeper's cottage for it's official opening on July 1 (a tremendous round of kudos to all those involved in both efforts) has of necessity resulted a somewhat abbreviated events schedule.

An update re the official opening of the Tollkeeper's Cottage has been added to the scrolling window on the Home page.

Mar. 2008
The scrolling window on the Tollkeeper's Home page has been re-titled "The Tollkeeper's Bulletin" and the content changed in an attempt to keep you up-to-date with our progress, challenges, and reasons why things on the website might not be as up-to-date as you might like. We hope you'll understand and bear with us through some challenging, but also very exciting and rewarding times. There's clearly light at the end of the tunnel!

Feb. 2008
Early Feb. saw several updates to the Home page and the addition of a new page entitled "CHP's New Home", all relating to Scotiabank's support and generosity in providing the Community History Project (the Tollkeeper's Cottage owners and restorers) with a new home at 79 Queen St. E. in Toronto.

Jan. 2008
The scrolling news bar on the Home page is being updated as frequently and as best we can to provide the latest status on the CHP's progress in finding a new home. Do check in often!

A new issue of Intellectual Profits has been issued and posted to the site.

With Jan. 26 being the deadline before which the Community History Project must vacate it's offices & archive at 719 Yonge St., the search for new accommodation has reached fever pitch. See the scrolling text on the Home page for details and links. The CBC also aired an interview with Jane Beecroft on it's Toronto News at 6, but copyright laws prevent our posting it on this site, and it no longer exists on theirs. We understand there may be a story on CFTO (CTV), likely the news, on the Jan. 18 - 20 weekend.

A new page and menu item, For Sale, has been added to accommodate a growing number of items available for sale.

Dec. 2007
The September and November newsletters are now available on the site, as is a desperate plea for help in finding a new home for CHP, which must vacate their current location by the end of December as the building will be demolished in January to make way for an 80 storey condo. The plea is both desperate and sincere, and of the utmost urgency. If you have any inkling of a possible hope, please call CHP immediately (416-515-7546) and leave a message. The efforts that have already been made are herculean - but all to no avail as yet. Click here for details.

If you'd like some insight to the challenges facing CHP and The Tollkeeper's Cottage, feel free to check out The Saga of the Floor.

Post "Saga", the fence around the Cottage has been removed and a "french trench" has been dug and installed to prevent water damage to the Cottage. Come Dec. 17 the City will start digging to install the sanitary sewer, and that work should be completed in 3-4 days. Unfortunately, all of this will leave the site a bit of a muddy mess, but landscaping will take care of that in in the Spring. Needless to say, the cost of all this work was unplanned for, and extensive. The project's finances have taken a beating!

Perhaps you can help yourself AND the Cottage: we have for sale some large windows, as well as a supply of cedar suitable for making cedar shakes (or making any area smell divine!) and a number of furniture items. If you have an interest, please call the CHP office (416-515-7546) and be sure to leave a detailed message. Your interest is most appreciated!

CHP is most appreciative of all your support as we struggle with the foregoing seemingly insurmountable problems.

There's also a recent update on items still needed for the Cottage. We'll organize it a little better as time permits!

June 2007
The May newsletter is now available, and the site's menu system has been revised to make the Newsletter page more accessible (it's now listed under both "What's New" as well as "About CHP".

A temporary link is available on the Home page to highlight the Traditional Afternoon Tea on the Lawn fundraiser.

The scrolling list of Supporters on the Home page has been updated based on info in the May 2007 Newsletter. The list is probably still far from complete. If you or your association / company has ever contributed to the Cottage project in any way (services - including volunteer time / services of any kind, goods, $, etc.) and aren't mentioned in the scrolling list on the Home page, please tell me!

May 2007
The May 24 Victoria Day Tea had to be cancelled as the Cottage will be FULL of the long-awaited windows and glass walls.

March 2007
Added the CHP March 09 newsletter (see new menu item under About CHP) and several links to it, and updated the events page.

Dec. 2006
Added The Delightful Dandelion to the Pamphlets page (so you'll be all ready to go in the Spring!)

Oct. 2006
Events page was updated for Oct. - Dec. events, including a Bake Sale and the availability of Christmas Puddings (home made by Dorothy Duncan! - click here to learn more about this remarkable woman.) and a recipe booklet.

Sept 2006
Pamphlets for each of the four walking tours around the Cottage (see Events or About CHP / CHP Pamphlets). But a brief write-up can't come close to providing the insights our guides do!

Also a little fiddling with the menu system so you can tell at a glance (by the red border) just where you are currently are in the menu. Works fine except for the first time (each visit) you go to the Home page - then every item with a sub-menu has a red border! Just click again on Home and it'll work fine after that. Hopefully we'll come up with a solution within a week or two.

July 2006
A few new photos scattered around (Events, Friends, Join the Parade) and another upgrade to the slide show mechanics, plus a new slide show - a peek inside the Cottage (choose the second slide show)!

June 2006
Check out the CHP Pamphlets, a few new photos (Slide show or Stills), and a simpler / more user-friendly Slide show presentation. And if you're using Firefox or Netscape, hey, now you can see it undistorted! Also a brand new menu system with flexibility galore for future developments (although the typeface is admittedly a little less exotic).

April 2006
The Toronto Historical Association has an update on the Toronto Purchase Land Claim negotiations in their April 2006 newsletter. (Their website has been revised and currently that newsletter is not available).

Oct. 2005
On Monday October 17 (2005) at the beautifully restored Carlu (formerly the Eaton Auditorium) the Community History Project and its work on the Tollkeeper's Cottage were recognized by Heritage Toronto and awarded its 2005 Community Heritage Award and its 2005 Members' Award. The Community History Project (CHP) has studied, acted and spoken out on behalf of heritage matters in midtown Toronto since 1983. Its programs include walking tours, displays, collecting historical material, and most recently, the restoration of the only known early Canadian tollhouse.