The Billings Estate National Historic Site is a heritage

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 2100 Cabot St. in the former home of one of the region's earliest settlers. The oldest wood-framed house in Ottawa was built in 1827-9 by

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

-born Braddish Billings. It became the home for the following four generations of the Billings family. It is Ottawa's oldest surviving house, though the

Bytown Museum The Bytown Museum (French: Musée Bytown) is a museum in Ottawa located in the Colonel By Valley at the Ottawa Locks of the Rideau Canal on the Ottawa River, just below Parliament Hill. Housed in the Commissariat Building, Ottawa's oldest remai ...

building is older. Billings had moved to the area in 1812, and was the first settler in

Gloucester Township Gloucester Township is a township in Camden County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township was the state's 22nd-most-populous municipality,Bytown Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod ...

, with the farm linked to the town by the

Bytown and Prescott Railway The Bytown and Prescott Railway (B&PR) was a railway joining Ottawa (then called Bytown) with Prescott on the Saint Lawrence River, in the Province of Canada. The company was incorporated in 1850, and the first train ran from Prescott into Bytow ...

. The estate remained in the Billings family until 1975. Over time the property was slowly sold off to developers, and today the estate retains only a relatively small plot of land. In 1975, the house became the Billings Estate Museum which is today operated by the City of Ottawa. The house is included amongst other architecturally interesting and historically significant buildings in

Doors Open Ottawa Doors Open Ottawa is an annual event held in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that gives the public access to many of the city's unique and historically significant buildings. Among the buildings included are government offices, museums, radio ...

, held each year in early June. The estate also includes a historic cemetery that contains graves dating back to 1820.

Billings Estate Artifact Collection - Routhier Community Centre

The museum's collection includes over 13,000 artifacts. Very few of the artifacts owned by the Billings Estate National Historic Site are on display at any given time. The Billings Estate Artifact Collection storage facility, located at the Routhier Community Centre (172 Guigues Ave.) includes items that have never been on exhibit, and is used by collections staff to preserve artifacts for safe keeping. The storage facility is also open during

, held each year in early June.http://ottawa.ca/doorsopen Doors Open Ottawa

External links

Billings Estate National Historic Site

References

* * * {{NHSC Museums in Ottawa History museums in Ontario Houses in Ottawa Historic house museums in Ontario National Historic Sites in Ontario Houses completed in 1828 Museums established in 1975 1975 establishments in Ontario Designated heritage properties in Ontario

Billings Estate Artifact Collection - Routhier Community Centre

See also

External links

References