Sir John A Macdonald's place in the 1800's where he lived for 13 months. Nicely kept house with…read morecool 1800's artifacts. Super friendly and informative staff even though we arrived near closing time. Must check out the huge garden!! The staff there take care of the garden (pesticide and GMO free) and donate the goods to charity. It might not look like a lot but wait until the staff give you a garden tour - favourite part of my visit here as you can tell.. Get in free with Canada 150 Parks Pass or ask for one at the front desk. Parking is at the lot across the street.

We toured Bellevue House with our K-Pass, a neat little "passport" that provides you with access to…read moremany Kingston attractions. Bellevue was the home of Sir John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada. Our period costumed guide, Harrison, was very personable and knowledgable. We learned a lot about early Canadian history and how John Macdonald and his family spent his time at the house. Bellevue House's furniture and fixtures are all from the 1840's or earlier, so they are consistent with the furniture that would have been in the house while the Macdonalds lived there. There are several things owned by the PM himself, including his crib from when he was a child in Scotland. Bellevue also keeps with the historical time period by growing several heritage apple varieties that would have been grown in the 1840's, as well as a garden on the grounds that grows vegetables. Much of the food grown is donated to a local food shelf, and some is given to a bar called Sir John's Public House, located in a building which housed Macdonald's law firm from 1849 to 1860. You can also explore the house on your own if you're not into guided tours, but I would recommend it, especially if you don't know much about Canadian history. It's worth the hour and 15 minutes.

I'm not much of a museum goer but I found this excursion quite interesting. Initially I went in…read morebecause I had a little over an hour to blow and there is free admission (donations box by entrance). I learned a bit about the now closed Kingston pen, the Womens jail right by and about some notorious criminals. It's quite small but there is still a lot to see. There is a jail cell display which was pretty cool.

If you are interested in the history of Canada's federal penitentiary system then this is a must…read moresee museum Many of the artifacts come from the Kingston Pen that was opened in 1835 as the "Provincial Penitentiary of the Province of Upper Canada". I was amazed at the clever innovation by the prisoners making a toaster, a liquor still, a gun, a radio and a shiv. we were lucky to have a retired correctional officer provide an impromptu tour and fill in the blanks on what life may be on the inside and insights to the riots, the escapes, Paul Bernardo and how the system works hard to rehabilitate those that need it.

Fascinated by health care and the history that has passed? Then this is one of the many museums…read moreKingston has to offer that you do not wish to miss. My wife is mesmerized by the old dental gear, the jars, concoctions, snake oil, field surgery kits from WW1 and anything to do with medical. The volunteer staff will go out of their way to ensure that your visit is memorable and answer all questions with gusto. We were lucky to see the Iron Lung display and were shocked and saddened by the activity around those kids that needed it. Things have changed now in how oxygen is transmitted to the patient but it is very interesting to see how they solved the problem for those that needed it.

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!

Went there early on Saturday in Autumn and the place was pretty empty - plenty of parking and it…read morewas only us and another couple on the guided tour. So much history packed inside and the tour didn't bore me for a second in those 50 minutes. So far I've been to the citadel in Halifax, Quebec and now Kingston. Love all of them.

I go here every time I visit Kingston. Everything about this is awesome and recently the Tattoo was…read morea ton of fun watching different bands play different songs. Would recommend to anyone going to Kingston for the first time.

Being a ham radio operator and a short wave listener since childhood I was eager to take a look at…read morewhat this great museum offered. The focus is military communications and the team has gone to great lengths to cover off the milestones over the years. My favorites were the single tube barracks radio concealed inside a bedpost during world war 2, mobile jeep communications, radio stacks to decrypt transmissions from other countries and the various man pack radios used by the fine Canadian soldiers.

A first rate museum that shows, in essence, how we went from flags and cables to iPhones in only…read more100 years. The military side of the presentation is not in your face, as this is not a war museum. It shows, with quiet skill, how the military is part of the Canadian tapestry and how communications and electronics shape our lives. Living history at its finest.

It is small city of Canada on our way to Ottawa. Very…read morequaint town. The plaza was clean with small market places . There was a concert and farmers market on the marina. Sunday was a beautiful day to walk around. Reminds me of Salem Massachusetts and Portland , Maine .

This is a great place to tour if you are a fan of history and love the arts, there are many…read morehistorical buildings and great restaurants to check out. The tour of City Hall is free from the end of May until just after Thanksgiving in October so go and check it out the building has an interesting history! The jail cells in the bottom of City Hall have been redone and have great information about them as well as the jail cells themselves are interesting to see