Haliburton, ON

In the middle of Ontario’s cottage country, Haliburton is where the well-off come to rest and play. The Haliburton Highlands Museum showcases some 20,000 artifacts of life in the area in the late 19th century. Among its most impressive exhibits are the Reid House built in 1882 and the 1870s farmstead located near the Haliburton School of Art + Design.

The farmstead is a sort of pioneer museum detailing life in rural Ontario before the advent of the railway. The main industries at the time were farming and blacksmithing, but there were many challenges of settling such vast areas of land. Even today, a drive through the country will give you a feel of how unpopulated it is.

Fleming College’s Haliburton School of Art + Design has a picturesque campus on the slope of a hill facing east onto Head Lake. Some of its larger creations ended up populating the Haliburton Sculpture forest as a public art display. It’s a popular hiking route for locals and children enjoy climbing all over the artwork.

The Rails End Gallery & Arts Centre was a former Canadian National Railway station and the tourist information centre is a refurbished caboose. Haliburton used to be the terminus of the Victoria Line running all the way to Lindsay, with the first train calling at the town in 1878.

The railway station was laid out in a typical tripartite plan with a waiting room, an office, and a freight shed. These have now become a gallery boutique, the office and entranceway, and the main art gallery. Much of the stations original layout had been preserved in upgrade works in 2004.