4 Best Sights in Side Trips from Toronto, Ontario

The region's only surviving example of a 19th-century tavern, this clapboard building originally opened to serve early visitors to the battleground of the War of 1812. There are displays of the lives of settlers during the war, native artifacts, and military attire.

In connected side-by-side buildings—one the 1875 former Niagara High School building and the other the first building in Ontario to have been erected as a museum, in 1906—this extensive collection relates to the often colorful history of the Niagara Peninsula from earliest times through the 19th century. From June through September the museum offers guided walking tours of the town at 11 am on Saturday and Sunday.

Readers of Canada's great humorist Stephen Leacock may recognize Orillia as "Mariposa," the town he described in Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town. Leacock's former summer home is now the Stephen Leacock Museum, a National Historic Site. Among the rotating exhibits are books, manuscripts, and photographs depicting Leacock, his family, and the region that inspired his writings. In the Mariposa Room, characters from the book are matched with the Orillia residents who inspired them.

You can brush up on Stratford and Perth County history with permanent displays and changing exhibits that cover such topics as hockey in Stratford, the city's railroad, the settlement of the area in the early 1800s, and of course an exhibit paying tribute to one of Stratford's most famous locals, Justin Bieber. The museum's open-air Players Backstage theater now hosts its own plays and occasional concerts from the likes of Canadian talent such as Ron Sexsmith by night, and there are hiking trails and picnic areas to explore by day.