Billings Estate Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1975 |
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| Location | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Type | house museum |
| Official name: Billings House National Historic Site of Canada | |
| Designated: | 1968 |
The Billings Estate National Historic Site is a cool heritage museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. You can find it at 2100 Cabot Street. It used to be the home of one of the very first families to settle in the area. This house is super old! It's the oldest wood-framed house still standing in Ottawa. A man named Braddish Billings, who came from Massachusetts, built it between 1827 and 1829. Four generations of the Billings family lived here after him. Even though the Bytown Museum building is older, this is Ottawa's oldest house that's still around. Braddish Billings moved to the area in 1812. He was the first settler in Gloucester Township.
Braddish Billings became very successful in the timber (wood) business. He built this large home and named it Park Hill. Later, he started farming. The house became the center of a big, successful farm. This farm grew food for Bytown, which is what Ottawa was called back then. The farm was connected to the town by the Bytown and Prescott Railway.
The Billings family owned the estate until 1975. Over time, parts of the land were sold off to people who wanted to build new homes. Today, the estate has a much smaller piece of land. In 1975, the house became the Billings Estate Museum. The City of Ottawa now runs this museum. The house is also part of an event called Doors Open Ottawa. This event happens every year in early June. It lets people visit interesting and historic buildings.
The estate also has a historic cemetery. This cemetery has graves that date all the way back to 1820.
What Can You See at the Billings Estate Museum?
The museum has a huge collection of over 13,000 items! These items are called artifacts. Most of these artifacts are not always on display at the museum. The Billings Estate National Historic Site keeps many of its artifacts safe at a special storage place. This place is at the Routhier Community Centre (172 Guigues Ave.). Here, museum staff work to protect and preserve items. Some of these items have never been shown to the public before. This storage facility is also open during Doors Open Ottawa each year.
More to Explore
- List of designated heritage properties in Ottawa
- Elkanah Billings
