Things to do

Here are a few ideas that might interest you for things to do downtown.

1. Kingston Penitentiary Guided tours – A maximum security penitentiary. Most notorious criminals in Kingston were there before it recently closed. Its a really cool building and the tour is very interesting and at time emotional. They offer a regular tours and a premium tours.
   
2. Bellevue House National Historic Site – Its about 2.5km from the house. A nice walk through the beautiful neighbourhood of Sydenham Ward will get you there. Its recently been renovated and re opened and if you like history, this place celebrates that! Its great!
   
3. The Kingston Fortifications Historic Sites – There are 5 of them in the area that you can visit.

1. Fort Henry – This is quite a place. Its a historic 19th Century British Military Fort. Lots to see and explore. Its quite significant for Canada in its defense against the Americans in the 1800’s. Have guided tours and I believe there is even a ghost walk of the fort you can join. Check out the Haunted walk of Kingston website.
2. Murney Tower and c. Shoal tower are part of the defense system of the period. These are old stone Forts that were arranged in a particular configuration along the shores of Kingston to act as a gun site to defend against the Americans. They are open for tours and exploration.

4. STONES – I just discovered this site myself! It has walking tours of Kingston with downloadable maps and audio files that you can listen to as you walk a specific route and reach each site. Its all free! Pretty awesome eh?!
   
5. S.S.Keewatin – This just opened for tours this year! Its a titanic era shiip that travelled the great lakes and st. lawrence and was recently restored and bought by Kingston. Located just a short walk down Ontario Street next to the pump house museum. I haven’t been yet, but its aparantly really nice.

6. The Pump House Steam Museum – The Pump House Steam Museum is located in one of Canada’s oldest original water works – where steam-powered pumps provided the first running water to Kingston residents from 1850. Only six similar preserved water pumping plants remain in North America. This is walking distance from the house and a pretty neat exhibit.
   
7. Kingston City Hall – Kingston was the First Capital of Canada and the city hall is a beautiful old limestone building. They give free guided tours daily. Check out the Jail in the basement.
   
8. Agnes Etherington Art Gallery – This gallery is located on the campus of Queens University. It can also be visited for free with the pass from the Library. Lots of exhibits and things to do here.
   
9. 1000 Island Cruise – This is probably the most popular thing to do when visiting Kingston. The 1000 Islands are world famous, very beautiful and peaceful and the cruises out of Kingston are pretty good. The best ones are out of ittle towns called Gananoque and Rockport. They are a 20 and 30 mminute drive away, butare much better and you can see Boldt Castle from those ones too.
   
10. A favourite thing of mine is to take the free Ferry over to Wolfe Island and explore. You can get the ferry at the foot of barrack street, about 2 blocks from the house, and take a 20 minute ride over. Its a nice ride, you can see Fort Henry and Royal Military Collage and of course a nice view of Kingston and Wolfe island from the water. Once there you are in Marysville. A cute little town that has a few restaurants on the water to have a bite and drink and listen to some music. There is a bakery and ice cream shop as well as an art gallery and all the windmills are over there! Go on a windmill hunt! They are huge up close!