Today we strolled through Canada as it might have been in the late 1800's to early 1900's. The Heritage Park Historical Village contained homes, businesses, farms and farm equipment, horses and carriages, churches, schools, trains and train stations and much, much more. There were over 100 buildings and most of them were authentic having been moved to this location, some were reproductions based on historical documents and pictures but all were from the past. Each location was manned by an interpreter in period clothing, most speaking the King's English. They covered railroad history, agricultural history, settlements and village life. We watched a "preacher" steal a ledger from the bank, felt the excitement of drilling for oil, listened to a pump organ in a church, learned a lesson in etiquette from a school teacher and ate homemade cinnamon rolls from the baker. I was excited to see a working linotype (my dad used to operate one) and the blacksmith shop was lit using electricity from glass jar batteries. They even had an old amusement park with swings, merry-go-rounds and ferris wheels run by steam engines.
To end the day we went thru Gasoline Alley Museum. A gentleman who was a avid collector and restorer of old cars and anything to do with gas stations, donated his whole collection to the Heritage Park. He must have found hundred's of gas station signs and the really old gas pumps. There were numerous rare and antique cars and trucks in mint condition. It was truly awesome and I'm not that big of a car buff (but John is!).
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