#ExperienceTO: Cabbagetown Historical Tour

Join #ExperienceTO for a FREE, public walking tour that will be a good experience for anyone: whether you’re 8 or 80 years old, and whether you’re a curious local, solo traveler, backpacker, newcomer, or part of a group of friends.

Beginning in front of the Toronto Public Library – Parliament Street Branch (269 Gerrard St E, Toronto, ON M5A 2G3), the interactive tour will be hosted by your guide Alex Rășcanu. The tour will focus on Cabbagetown’s history. The historical tour will conclude at a nearby coffee shop.

About Cabbagetown: “Cabbagetown is the epithet used by Toronto’s prosperous British residents offended by the use of front gardens to grow cabbages and other vegetables by the hundreds of Irish families who had fled famine in Ireland in the 1840s. The area, at that time, was a mix of prosperous streets, middle class houses and workers enclaves, but well before the Depression it slid into decline. Then, in the 1970s and 1980s this large stock of decayed, but largely untouched, Victorian housing was discovered by inner city pioneers who actively campaigned to prevent further destruction of the historic architecture, and the area was gradually restored. Today it is a village within the city. Cabbagetown is a physically beautiful, culturally active, mixed-income community. A walk through the area yields many surprises – secluded alleys, converted workshops and tiny workers cottages share streets with grand homes and coach houses. Much of the area has been designated a Heritage Conservation District with the benefits and responsibilities that designation entails.” (Cabbagetown Preservation Association)