One of the last stops on the Underground Railroad, this successful settlement is Ontario’s second largest national historic site and one of Canada’s few remaining black settlements. Most of the 100 residents who live on this 9,000-acre settlement are descendants of slaves.
The Buxton National Historic Site and Museum is on the original site of the Elgin Settlement. Founded in 1849 as a refuge for escaped slaves, this settlement became one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad, and was home to more than 2,000 men, women and children. The Museum preserves the community’s living history with a hands-on exhibit featuring thousands of artifacts and a tour of an 1861 school, two churches, a cemetery, log cabin and barn.
Step back in time as you tour the oldest standing log cabin built in 1852 by a former slave, the barn of one of the first black Canadian men elected to political office and the Buxton Liberty Bell.