My next house call on this visit to the Upper Canada Village was the Physician’s House. This house was another of the structures moved during the Seaway Project. Built in 1840, it became the home of Michael Urias Cook, the first person to import Holstein cattle into Canada. At Upper Canada Village, it has now been refurbished to reflect the comfortable home of a 19th century physician.
 
 
One of the largest homes in Upper Canada Village is the Crysler House. I didn’t go into this house on this visit but have been in it before, most notably during the seasonal “Alight At Night” event when the Crysler House was used for the display of the winning entries in the Gingerbread Competition.
Upper Canada Village is large enough and has enough homes and artifacts on display that seeing everything can easily occupy a full day. We were only there for a few hours so there were many places, in addition to the Crysler House that I didn’t visit. Perhaps another time.
 
In addition to a very large selection of 19th century homes and buildings, Upper Canada Village also provides insight into what farm life might have been like in the 19th century in this part of the St. Lawrence River valley. As Canada Geese flew overhead, it was time for me to explore the agricultural area of Upper Canada Village complete with hand-stooked fields of grain, ducks, cows and a pumpkin or two.
To get a nice overview of the farmland areas, I climbed to the top of the Telegraph Signal Tower which would have been used, in its day, to signal to lookouts in other such towers spaced along the banks of the St. Lawrence River. Standing atop the tower, brought back memories of some Boy Scout Jamborees where we had signaled from hill to hill using flags. Much the same process would have been used in the 1800’s to send messages about ship traffic or enemy movements.
