Day 1 !

We are calling today, October 24th as Day 1 of the U.S trip, but in fact we haven’t left Burlington yet. Today we were finalizing the last minute items required to get ready. Sanitizing the fresh water tank (that is a process!), Costco, Cleaning the R.V inside and out, Costco, repacking the storage compartments underneath, Costco.

We also decided to do a little sight seeing, which is why we are calling this Day 1. About a KM from Barb’s home is a Museum called Ireland House. All these years I thought it had to do with the Country, when in fact it had to do with one of the first settlers of the area back in the 1800s, Joseph Ireland (DUH). Ireland house was built on Oakridge Farm between 1835-1837.

Joseph Ireland emigrated to Canada in 1819 from Bowes, Yorkshire England in 1819 at the age of 27 and he petitioned for the land at Oakridge Farm. Joseph and his descendants occupied Ireland House until 1985.

In 1987 the City of Burlington purchased the property from the estate of Lucie Marie Ireland Bush and established the museum, restoring the homestead to illustrate three distinct time periods that represent the generations of Irelands who lived in the house: 1850’s, 1890’s, 1920’s. (I felt like I was going through the Downton Abby years all over again…..(although Downton was filmed in later decades) 90% of the furnishings in the house are original and the light in the front hallway was the first electric light on the Guelph Line. (Guelph line is a main road in Burlington)

While the pictures below don’t do the home justice, it was a reminder of not just simpler times (and harder), but that there are historical riches in our neighbourhoods we should all take the time to visit, and to learn what and who was here before us.