Getting outside and experiencing a heritage village is way more fun than reading about history in a textbook, am I right? Heritage Park in Calgary is a step back in time in Canada’s largest living history museum.
Experience the joy of discovering how people lived way back when as you explore 1860 all the way to 1950. Unlike other museums where you walk through an exhibit and look at objects behind glass, Heritage Park is interactive, with costumed interpreters, historic buildings to peak into and wander around in, and working antiques to touch, smell, taste, hear and see.
The Park is set-up in four main areas:
- Heritage Town Square: This is located before the admission gates, which means it is free to enjoy. There are a few restaurants and cafes, little shops with all kinds of fun things to check out and a 2-acre nature park to enjoy. You can also step inside to Gasoline Alley Museum, home to one of the world’s largest public collections of antique trucks, cars and gas pumps from the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s.
- The 1900s Living Historical Village: This main area is open between May and October. The village is home to many of the exhibits including an antique midway with lots of rides, steam train, a working printing press and blacksmith shop, ice cream parlour, a very popular bakery, and costumed interpreters.
- The 1880s Pre-Railway Settlement: Also open May to October, experience the homes, businesses, and lifestyles of the first new settlers to Canada’s West.
- 1860s Fur Trading Fort and First Nations Encampment: Also open May to October. First Nations, Métis, explorers, settlers, and traders, as well as others who travelled through Western Canada, are represented in this area of the park.
