Heritage Park Historical Village

by ssquires · July 11, 2016

Heritage Park Historic Village in Calgary, Alberta

Step back in time at Canada’s largest living history museum!

With more than 200 exhibits and attractions spread over 127 acres of lush parkland, Heritage Park Historical Village has a lot to offer both the history buff and the pleasure seeker. It’s the perfect balance between historical fact, adventure, discovery and fun that makes our take on the tale of Western Canadian settlement so unique.

Explore 1860 all the way to 1950

This isn’t a museum where history stays behind the glass. The interactive exhibits, costumed interpreters, historic buildings and hundreds of working antiques are all just waiting for you to touch, smell, taste, hear and see how the West was once.

You can immerse all five of your senses in the Park’s four main areas:

Heritage Town Square: Located before the Park gates, enjoying this bustling square does not require Park admission. The square boasts four unique shops, an antique portrait studio, one café, a restaurant and a 2-acre nature park that can be enjoyed by all. You can also step inside to Gasoline Alley Museum, home to one of the world’s largest public collections of antique trucks, cars and petroliana from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.

1900s Living Historical Village: Open May to October, this bustling village is home to many of our exhibits including an antique midway, authentic steam train, working printing press and blacksmith shop, ice cream parlour, bakery and costumed interpreters.
1880s Pre-Railway Settlement: Open May to October, experience the homes, businesses and lifestyles of the first new settlers to Canada’s West.
1860s Fur Trading Fort and First Nations Encampment: Open May to October, this area represents a gathering place for diverse groups of people including First Nations, Métis, explorers, settlers and traders, as well as others who travelled through Western Canada.

History you can see, touch, smell and talk to.

Heritage Park features over 180 attractions and exhibits that reflect the challenges, lives and victories experienced by the generations responsible for the settlement of Western Canada. In many cases, the houses, stores and machinery at each exhibit are original. Thousands of Western Canada’s historical treasures have been generously donated and relocated to the Park.

As an accredited museum, Heritage Park is proud to preserve and share history in a way that lets visitors experience it with all five senses. Our costumed interpreters add another dimension to the immersive historical experience and bring our attractions and exhibits to life.

The Park’s attractions and exhibits span Western Canadian history from the 1860s to 1950s, and are situated in four locations around the Park: