Tollkeepers' Cottage Museum

About

Charitable organization & community history project.

Story

The historic Tollkeeper's Cottage, believed to be Canada's only surviving tollgate from the 1800s (or earlier), certainly the only one available to the public.

We ask for a minimum contribution of $2 per person (except for very young children) to help offset our on-going operating costs.

Briefly, The Cottage was "rediscovered" 20 years ago (1993) and a few years later research began in earnest re its origins and history. It's dated at 1835 (the interior has been restored to the 1860's) and was operating as a tollgate and home for the tollkeepers' families at least from 1850.

It's of a very rare vertical plank construction - a style used for a short period in the early 1800's. Its history as tollgate #3 on Davenport Road - whose history dates back to the end of Ice Ages when the passageway was used as a footpath by the First Nations people - is fascinating.