Tours + events
Tours, services of remembrance, workshops and volunteer days through the year. Most events are free and everyone is welcome.
Tours
7:00 – 8:30 pm · Meet at the Main Gate · $18 · members $12
Our most popular evening. A guide in period dress leads you by lantern light to eight stones and the stories behind them. Not a ghost tour: true stories, told with care.
Tours
7:00 – 8:30 pm · Meet at the Main Gate · $18 · members $12
A second evening of lantern tours. Groups are capped at 20 so everyone can hear.
Tours
7:00 – 8:30 pm · Meet at the Main Gate · $18 · members $12
Lantern tour with a focus on the cholera summer of 1854 and the doctor who stayed.
Tours
6:00 + 8:00 pm · Meet at the Main Gate · $10 · children free
A shorter, gentler walk for families with children 6 and up. Ends with cider at the Lodge.
Remembrance
6:00 pm · Thorne Chapel · Free
A quiet, non-denominational evening. Bring the name of someone you have lost; we read every name aloud and light a candle for each.
Nature
10:00 am · Meet at the Weeping Beech · Free · donations welcome
The final tree walk of the season with our arborist. Oaks, beeches and the late-colouring larches.
Remembrance
10:45 am · Field of Honour cenotaph · Free
Held with Royal Canadian Legion Branch 412 and Elderbrook District High School. Two minutes of silence at 11:00. Accessible seating available, please arrive early.
Workshops
1:00 – 3:30 pm · Records room, the Lodge · $25
How to read worn inscriptions without harming them: raking light, mirrors and photo tricks. Why we no longer allow rubbings, and what to do instead.
Volunteer
9:00 am – noon · Field of Honour · Free
Help lay balsam wreaths on every veteran's grave. Hot chocolate provided. Gloves recommended.
Remembrance
5:00 pm · Thorne Chapel · Free
For anyone finding the holidays hard. A short reflection in the chapel and a candlelit walk to the Mere. Grief counsellors from Elderbrook Hospice attend.
Tours
10:00 am · Meet at the Lodge · $12 · snowshoes provided
Winter is a fine time to see the stones: no leaves, low light and long shadows. About 90 minutes, mostly flat.
Workshops
1:00 – 4:00 pm · Elderbrook Public Library · $25 · library members $15
With the Elderbrook branch of the Ontario genealogy community. Census, land and church records, and how cemetery records fill the gaps.
Volunteer
9:00 am – 1:00 pm · Meet at the Lodge · Free · lunch provided
Raking, planting and clearing winter fall. Our biggest volunteer day of the year; all ages welcome.
Tours
10:00 am – 4:00 pm · Thorne Chapel + Receiving Vault · Free
The chapel and the Receiving Vault, normally locked, are open to everyone. Short talks on the hour.
Remembrance
2:00 pm · Thorne Chapel lawn · Free
An old Ontario custom we keep each June: families tidy and decorate their plots, followed by a short open-air service and lemonade.
