Bandshell/Picnic Area

This reproduction of a 1904 structure is now used for special events, Weddings and live performances directly behind is the Picnic area and washroom facilities, not show is a large fully covered picnic area that can be used anytime and is available for parties,company picnics, weddings and receptions.

Watson's Garage

This building was built in 1926. It is the oldest serving example of an Imperial Oil gas station. This building was owned by John Watson. Watson first used this building as a bike repair shop. Now this building houses stationary engines, steam engines, antique car and tractors. During the 1920s many people went back to using horses, due to the depression and inflation of gas prices. Therefore, John Watson had to open his trade to expand his business.

Blacksmith Shop

This building houses a small blacksmith shop. The blacksmith was essential in any community in the 1930s. His job was very dangerous and this resulted in many injuries. The blacksmith made many things such as; horseshoes, tools, nails, and other small items for daily use. The blacksmith had to be very skilled and intelligent to have the knowledge to make these things.

Dupuis House

This house is the oldest on the site. It was built in 1820 and believe it or not was actually lived in until 1983. An older woman named Eva Dupuis lived in the house by herself on St. Joseph Boulevard in Cumberland until she died. The house was then transported to the museum.

She managed to live in this old house without any modern conveniences. The house was heated with coal and wood, her only washroom was an outhouse and she used a well in the backyard for her water. She did not even have a fridge, she simply kept her food in an icebox. She changed the house so little that it is almost exactly how it would have been when the first occupants lived there. The house now sits at the museum, housing the seamstress exhibit.

Levesque House

Built around 1864 and was relocated to the museum in 2000 the house is a typical example of a 19th century Ontario farmhouse.

Duford House

This house is named after its owners the Dufords, who occupied it from 1825 when it was built until 1977 when it was moved from its location on St. Joseph Boulevard near Place D’Orleans to the Cumberland Museum. Can you believe that this house was once home to a family with two parents, a grandmother and fourteen children?

French Hill School House

This is the school that children living in the rural area of French Hill would have attended. This school was built in 1900. It was moved to Cumberland Museum in 1976 after it had been left empty for many years due to the opening of a replacement school.

Imagine going to school every morning and once you are there, you see no lockers, only coat hooks. You have to share the room with children who are almost ten years younger than you and you don’t have a text book to call your own. This is what school was like for an average grade eight student living in the 1930s. Children would have been lucky to have the opportunity to learn in such a school because until only a short time before, many children were stuck working on their farms or doing other hard labour jobs.