Beautiful mansion. After Louise Boldt's death, her husband stopped all work on the mansion, as the…read morethought of staying here was too painful for him. Yet, he purchased other properties in the area and built at least one other house and a large farm, and came to those properties to spend summers, every year. Boldt Castle is still in the process of being finished, so the 3rd and 4th floors are pretty much white washed plaster walls in the rooms, with no fireplaces. But the ground floor and 2nd are done and are spectacular. The grounds are beautiful! A great way to spend an afternoon. Snacks and drinks are available.

Went on a tour of Boldt Castle/Heart Island this past weekend and it was easily the most beautiful…read morearchitecture I've seen with my own eyes. The entire island is perfectly maintained with vibrant flowers and gardens that looked immaculate even in late September. There is so much to see and its much bigger than it looks. There is so much attention to detail you can still miss things even after walking around for hours. I saw a couple get married while I was there and I can't even imagine how stunning those photos will turn out! A lot of people have already mentioned the beautiful and tragic history of this castles creation. I love that you can still go tp the upper floors of the castle that are not yet renovated and see the graffiti and signs of decay. The layout of the castle really tells a story and the classical music played in the background really adds to the immersion. There are also audio tours available. So much love was put into the original vision and execution of this project as well as the restoration. There are even heats all over the island. 10/10 would recommend spending a few hours here if you're ever visiting the area.

Free admission today, but it would have been worth paying to visit. Personable staff on the…read morereception desk, interesting displays based on local history and businesses. A small museum so an hour or two at most for a visit but a great way to stretch your legs and break a trip on 401 between Montreal and Toronto.

Founded in 1880, this art gallery in Ottawa Ontario Canada is a grand light filled structure of…read moreglass and granite. Featuring sweeping views of Parliament Hill and the Ottawa River. The iconic Maman Spider sculpture is right outside the entrance. The tickets are $15.68. This large museum premiers over 100,000 works. This includes the Group of Seven collection of Canadian landscapes, Indigenous and Canadian art, and International Masterpieces.

I had a great experience at this gallery. It was our first time with my family and we were able to…read morelearn about different art installations, it was cool. It wasn't too busy and it was clean and well-maintained. They also had multiple security stationed inside. Fairly priced and would definitely recommend checking it out at least once.

This Blue Mountain Lake gem is a wonder to explore rain it shine stuffed to the gills with…read morefascinating educational opportunities & some incredible exhibits that make each visit memorable. HUGE PLUS: The caffe is EXCELLENT with an incrediblely STUNNING view of the lake.

It was a beautiful day- sunny, clear, and warm. The trails were beautiful, hiking and listening to…read morethe birds was serene. At each stop, each guide provided vital information and a rich history of the area. Well worth the trip. Love the gift shop too. LOL. Oh....almost forgot- lunch the grilled cheese sandwich was HUGE and oh so cheesy - yum yum.....

The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is located in the middle of Queen's campus right past the very…read moreimpressive Theological Hall and Kingston Hall. The entrance to the centre had accessible accommodations and was well maintained (heavily salted!) for the slippery winter weather. Once we were inside, we were greeted warmly by the receptionist. Since we were first time visitors to the gallery, she walked us through a map and told us which exhibits were open or undergoing installations along with a short explanation of what each was all about. There is no admission fee but you can make a donation to the centre with no suggested amount. There is a small area for you to hang up your coats and belongings. There are also lockers with an electronic locking system available if you're here for a longer program. It was actually kind of hot in some of the gallery rooms so I'm glad I had somewhere to hang up my coat. The gallery is separated by exhibition rooms, some of which are curated by the students at Queen's. One such exhibit was the Quest for Colour: Five Centuries in Printmaking that had recently gone up. One of my favourites was the B-Side Agnes Etherington by Paul Litherland. It features a series of photographs of the backs of some of the paintings from the Agnes Etherington gallery itself. Overall I found that the wall labels for each of the pieces to be very helpful in knowing what to look for in a certain piece or to fully appreciate the artists work. The centre also is home to part of the original Agnes Etherington house. There are a few art pieces here as well as a grand piano that can be played by visitors on weekends from 1:00 - 4:50pm on a first-come, first-serve basis. All in all I spent about 50 minutes here taking my time to enjoy each piece. If you're on Queen's campus I'd highly recommend checking it out!

Props to this place for staying open after Hallowe'en!…read morePretty much everything else in Kingston closes down. Students want to see tourist attractions too, and friends visiting students who are busy with student-type stuff kinda need these tourist attractions lol. TIP: Thursdays are free and they're open late! If you like Canada and like learning about Canada at all, you'll like this place. It's got an extensive collection of Inuit prints and sculpture, old-school sketches of Kingston and places called Upper and Lower Canada (which I know I learned about at one point, but seriously, Upper and Lower are non-intuitive place descriptors lol), and modern stuff featuring artists who suffered from AIDS or who migrated from South Korea or moved from their native reserve in rural Alberta to do humanitarian work in Rwanda. How cool is that?! Canada is awesome. Two of my favourite pieces were: A. This Punjabi-born, British-raised, now Canadian artist's depiction of the ... geez, it's gotta be more than 24 ... ways you talk about family relationships. Your wife's mother's brother's wife has a specific name. I would just call her ... "you"? lol B. Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge's staged photo series that's supposed to be a social commentary about cola's production chains having adverse effects on people worldwide. It's deep. It's so deep that I can't understand it and therefore can't explain it. My bad. And the Queen's students/alumni behind the desk are uber-helpful. It's a shame this place isn't more frequented, but I had a couple of hours of eerily peaceful browsing time, broken by this weird piece that screams at you to rotate it when you get too close. Check it out yo!

The original farm house of the Wilder family, as in the family of Almanzo Wilder, husband to Laura…read moreIngalls Wilder, with some reconstructed outbuildings, all as described in Farmer Boy. There's a tour of the barn buildings and farm house, which ran us $25 for a family of of four but was well worth it and clocked in at about an hour. Arrive by 3:30 to make sure you get the full tour on a given day. It helps quite a bit to have read the book Farmer Boy (or other Little House books) before the tour, although not necessary to enjoy it as a slice of American life. This is essentially an idealization of the historical American farm (no manure smells or tetanus) and is private history, so it's not necessarily completely accurate or authentic, but the narrative they put together is quite decent. The guide (Kyle) was extremely knowledgeable although not afraid to say 'I don't know' to some questions, and was diligent about finding the answers to questions he didn't know about later. Extremely well-done tour guiding. I'm a little ambivalent about the political uses of the Little House books (the story's been co-opted a bit by Randian philosophers, in no small part because Rose Wilder Lane was one herself) but even with their gauzy views of pioneer history and selective editing of the Ingalls' real story, they remain classic reads and real musts for kids. There is a small museum which is a free entry, and a pretty decent gift shop featuring a library of the Little House books (and the somewhat more questionable "authorized by the estate" series, albeit out of print titles) and a number of related history books. The crafts are not tacky at all and are in keeping with the Americana theme. (One notable lacuna - the Eric Sloane books on heritage American farm tools, buildings, and methods, which are an obvious inspiration.) Both our enthusiastic ten-year-old and normally bored by such stuff seven year old enjoyed it very much, as both adults did. The one missing part is the demonstration garden and orchard are quite small, and there aren't many actual farm animals (just some sheep). That hardly seemed to matter to either of them in the end, though. This is a long way away from most things, but if you have a Laura Ingalls Wilder nut in the household or are interested at all in American social history, it's worth a side trip if you're in the area.

I came by during their Scotland festival and wasn't offered a tour, but I did have access to…read morehighland dancing, cows, and haggis in addition to a lovely couple of hot dog trucks and a small outdoor market. Apparently it was super crowded for them, but I thought it was the most pleasant and laid back Scots festival I've been to in the US (I was at one in Newfoundland that was a bit less hectic). The house and barns were staffed by workers in period costume (as well as cows). I was told about spinning and the reconstruction and weaving and cooking. The staff members were lovely and funny and nice. They also were very, very kind when I accidentally broke the house. The displays are excellent of their kind and grounded really strongly not only against Laura Ingalls Wilder's books but also against period reference books. I was really impressed, but I do think it's a lot of reading for small children. The volunteers were excellent about explaining things, though. The gift shop was lovely and stocked a great selection of books...I've read or own most of them, but it was nice to see them all in one place. The only drawback is the isolated location. I stopped on the way back from Montreal, going probably 2 hours out of the way (I know map quest says it's only an hour and half, but customs took a long time).

It's normally hard to find something for our autistic 8 year old grandson to enjoy, but this museum…read morehas so many things he loves it's easy to get him to go there , drop the electronics that he's addicted to , and just have fun. We love the renovations and new exhibits, thank you to all the contributors that made it possible!

We love it here! Fantastic programs and great exhibits. The family membership is definitely worth…read moreit if you live nearby... you will want to visit more than once!

Great outdoor educational adventure the trails there can take you everywhere and the trolls that…read morewhere made were beautiful.

It's a wonderful place to visit, I saw people of all ages here to enjoy the beauty of this area…read more Just a note that they do not let anyone in even to park, before their posted hours. The entry works pretty smoothly though, and since we had prepaid tickets, they were able to look us up, give us a map and we were parked quickly. I was there specifically for the Thomas Dambo exhibit. He is a Danish sculpture artist known for his giant trolls made out of recycled wood. Each troll is unique and has a name and purpose....to save the Humans and teach them about sustainability. The trails are beautiful in the woods and clearly marked. There was a beautiful section of the forest where an original piece of music was being played from 24 speakers as you followed the trail. An enchanting small lake filled with water lilies was out the back door of the main building. They have a small cafeteria and a nice gift shop.The building was full of interesting exhibits, including a tank with otters.

This is something that we are desperately missing in Ottawa. Although a tad expensive to get in, 21…read morebucks-ish per adult, 14 for a 4 year old..... I get it, the prices need to be on the higher side so they can make sure the animals are being well taken care of. We went on a very quiet Saturday, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. Staff were so friendly. This place would be great for a rainy day, but it was hard to stay couped up indoors when it was such a nice day outside. We were able to leave and have lunch else where (there was no cafeteria that I noticed on site), and we were able to come back after and hang out a bit more. The kids were not too impressed with the fish, but they LOVED the water table activity center. I'd recommend a visit at least once.

amazing experience! highly recommend for families! The staff is very knowledgeable and the animals…read moreare well taken care of. Otter and beaver education and training times are worth a visit.