The new, 65,000-sq.-ft. home of the Canadian Canoe Museum, opening May 13 in Peterborough, Ont., has more room to display the artifacts, better HVAC to preserve them, and a café. But the most exciting part to its executive director is something any cottager can relate to: “I can’t wait to be on the water,” says Carolyn Hyslop.
That’s right: after spending the past 27 years in a revamped outboard motor plant on Monaghan Road in Peterborough, the collection has moved into a stunning, purpose-built facility on Little Lake, part of the Trent-Severn Waterway. “A lot of people have been talking about paddling to the museum, and even people in powerboats can dock at one of the locks and walk over,” says Hyslop. Those who do will be strolling a short distance on the Trans Canada Trail, which goes right through the museum property, between its lake-facing windows and its docks.
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The shoreline location opens up new programming opportunities, including voyageur canoe tours and canoes and kayak rentals. Plus, the new site’s display space has increased. The museum can now truly showcase its treasures, which range from Indigenous bark canoes to the kind of chic cedar-strips that graced early cottage regattas to an Olde Town Royalex tripper that Gordon Lightfoot once wrapped around a rock. Many of the vessels in the organization’s possession have, until now, been tucked away in a separate storage building, inaccessible to the public. “There are more than 600 watercraft in our care,” says Hyslop. “We are really looking forward to all of them being under one roof.”
This article was originally published in the May 2024 issue of Cottage Life.
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