Haut-Canada village | A living getaway in the heart of Canada’s history

Knead the dough before slipping it into a wood oven, attend the mowing of the sheep, listen to the tinkling of the hammer at the blacksmith … who has never dreamed of going back to the past and exchanging the tumult of today for the slower rhythm of formerly? In the village of Haut-Canada, these gestures of yesteryear come back to life before the eyes of visitors, offering a real journey over time as well as an ideal parenthesis to win everyday life and screens.

Less than two hours from Montreal, this window in the 19th century is enjoyed for a day or a weekend. Inaugurated in 1961, this unique living museum carefully reconstitutes life in a rural village in Haut-Canada in 1866. As much as families in search of interactive activities as explorer souls looking for authenticity or lovers of culture and history will find their account.

Nothing here is simple decor. More than forty authentic buildings have been transported to the site. Houses, mills, workshops, farms: most come from these
“Villages lost” which were engulfed in the late 1950s, during the construction of the Moses-Saunders power plant. Saved from oblivion, each building was dismantled room by room, then faithfully rebuilt to what it was in the Haut-Canada village. We are thus strolling in real houses where families have really lived, in workshops where the noise of tools resonated over 150 years ago. Instead of this authenticity gives an exceptional depth and emotional load.

A sensory journey in the 19th century

The smell of hot bread, the sound of the hooves that slam on the paved floor, the spectacle of the wheel of a mill that turns over the water: all the senses are asked upon arrival on site.

Costumed performers, mostly bilingual, embody farmers, craftsmen or masses of the house, telling with passion the daily life of their character. For example, a leather craftsman tells the patience necessary for his job; A spinner explains how raw wool turns into fabric; A farmer details the organization of crops in the 19th century; A cheese maker explains the basics of cheese manufacturing … Each meeting brings its share of stories.

Far from a frozen course, the visit is punctuated by unforeseen discoveries, depending on the season and the work in progress. In the spring, we can attend the mowing of the sheep; Then, in the fall, to smell the smell of wood and harvests. We climb aboard a cart pulled by horses to cross the site at a peaceful pace, or else we let ourselves be tempted by a miniature train journey, a nod to the beginnings of the railroad in the region. In the fields and at the impressive luxury farm, we meet Canadian oxen, pigs and horses, these robust animals that have helped shape the country and which are today the delight of the little ones … and the older ones, too!

When the village lights up

When the summer season ends, the Haut-Canada village is transformed to accommodate two meetings that have become traditions. In October, Pumpkinferno plunged the site into a magical and mysterious atmosphere, with some 9000 carved and illuminated pumpkins as well as a night route.

Then, at the end of November, the village takes its coat of lights for Alight At Night, which this year celebrates its 25ᵉ anniversary. More than a million small bulbs then transform buildings and alleys into a winter decor worthy of a postcard.

No matter the season or the occasion, we leave with the feeling of having crossed, the space of a day, the threshold of another century … and with the certainty that we will return. This is perhaps the real magic of the village of Haut-Canada: to offer a living experience which, far from freezing the story, makes it vibrate and come alive before our eyes.