Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site
The oldest intact stone fur-trading post in North America is Lower Fort Garry (tel. 877/534-3678 or 204/785-6050; www.pc.gc.ca), only 32km (20 miles) north of Winnipeg on Highway 9. Built in the 1830s, Lower Fort Garry was an important Hudson's Bay Company trans-shipment and provisioning post. Within the walls of the compound are the governor's residence; several warehouses, including the fur loft; and the Men's House, where male employees lived. Outside the compound are company buildings -- a blacksmith's shop, the farm manager's home, and so on. The fort is staffed by costumed volunteers who make candles and soap; forge horseshoes, locks, and bolts; and generally demonstrate the ways of life of the 1850s. In a lean-to beside the fur-loft building stands an original York boat; hundreds of these once traveled the waterways from Hudson Bay to the Rockies and from the Red River to the Arctic carrying furs and trading goods.
Mid-May through Labour Day, the site is open daily from 9am to 5pm. Admission is C$6.50 (US$5.20) for adults, C$5.50 (US$4.40) for seniors, C$3.25 (US$2.60) for youths ages 6 to 16, C$17 (US$13) for families, and free for children under 6. Call Beaver Bus Lines (tel. 204/989-7007), to get a charter bus from downtown Winnipeg to Lower Fort Garry. Also, Paddlewheel River Rouge Tours (tel. 204/942-4500; www.paddlewheelcruises.com) offers a daylong cruise to Lower Fort Garry for C$23 (US$18) for adults, C$20 (US$16) for seniors, and C$14 (US$11) for children under 12. Fort admission, meals, and drinks aren't included in these fares.
Steinbach Mennonite Haritage Village
About 48km (30 miles) outside Winnipeg is the Steinbach Mennonite Heritage Village (tel. 204/326-9661; www.mennoniteheritagevillage.com), 2.5km (1 1/2 miles) north of Steinbach on Highway 12, south off Highway 1, east from town. This 16-hectare (40-acre) museum complex is worth a detour. Between 1874 and 1880, about 7,000 Mennonites migrated here from the Ukraine, establishing settlements such as Kleefeld, Steinbach, Blumenort, and others. Between 1922 and 1926, many moved to Mexico and Uruguay when Manitoba closed all unregistered schools, but they were replaced by another surge of emigrants fleeing the Russian Revolution. Their community life is portrayed here in a complex of about 20 buildings. In the museum, dioramas display daily life and community artifacts, such as woodworking and sewing tools, sausage makers, clothes, medicines, and furnishings. Elsewhere in the complex, you can view a windmill grinding grain, ride in an ox-drawn wagon, watch a blacksmith at work, or view any number of homes, agricultural machines, and more. In summer, a restaurant serves Mennonite food -- a full meal of borscht, thick-sliced homemade brown bread, coleslaw, pierogies, and sausage, plus rhubarb crumble, all at reasonable prices.
The village is open Monday to Saturday: May and September 10am to 5pm; June, July, and August 10am to 6pm. On Sunday, the gates don't open until noon. October to April, the museum is open Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm. Admission is C$8 (US$6.40) for adults, C$6 (US$4.80) for seniors, C$4 (US$3.20) students 13 to 22, C$2 (US$1.60) for children aged 6 to 12, and C$20 (US$16) for families.
