Mackenzie House

We got a reasonably early start on Sunday, leaving for downtown right after I finished grocery shopping.  The first stop was the holiday windows at the Bay.

I think my favourite was this relatively contained scene of downtown Toronto.

The other windows were bigger, with a large polar bear, as well as this winter scene with a rabbit and a special tree. (This last window was my daughter's favourite.)

Then we went into the Eaton Centre for lunch.  While I hadn't really come out this way to go shopping, we did pick up some leggings at Old Navy.

Then we walked over to Mackenzie House.  This is the last home of William Lyon Mackenzie, publisher, first mayor of Toronto (in 1834) and leader of the 1837 Rebellion (where he tried to establish Ontario as an independent republic!).  He went to the U.S. in exile, only returning in 1850.  The house was actually purchased on his behalf by grateful citizens.

There is a relatively short demonstration of the printing press in a mock-up of Mackenzie's printing house (which was further away) and then a house tour.  Here is a reproduction of the reward for Mackenzie, printed on the press in the back of the museum.  (One thousand pounds was a huge amount of money, more than it cost to purchase the Mackenzie House when first built.)

Since the house is lit to 1860s standards, many of my photos just didn't turn out that well, but here are a few.

Downstairs dining room (and Mackenzie's desk)

Upstairs bedroom (for 3 of Mackenzie's daughters)

Kitchen

We got to try homemade cookies, though we weren't able to stick around for the next batch, which looked quite tasty.  On the whole, it was a good visit, and I learned a fair bit about an important figure in Toronto history.  We were lucky that a streetcar was just pulling up as we got to Dundas.  Then on the way back, we stopped off at the library to get a few more books, so a productive trip, all in all.