Well, now. Here are five things I learned during a very enjoyable visit to Black Creek Pioneer Village (“Step into 1860s Ontario”) on a cool and sunny afternoon in late August.

1. BCPV has a nice little collection of fire insurance marks (there may be more than shown), which happily reminded me of ones I’d seen on buildings in London. Learn more in this short video from my friend, London City Guide Matt Gedge.

2. There are not two but three historic McKenzie / Mackenzie Houses in Toronto: the Ontario Historical Society’s John McKenzie House in North York, City of Toronto Museum Mackenzie House, and BCPV’s Mackenzie House! No wonder people get confused.

3. There’s a north section of the property, mentioned by two staff on separate occasions, which isn’t open to the public anymore. I don’t know anything about this, but I’d like to look into it further. (What’s on the property – some buildings? Why did it close to the public and when?)

4. The Dominion Carriage Works has a second floor treasure trove storage area of original tools, machines, and materials, including more wagon wheels than I’d ever seen. I was lucky to have been invited upstairs to learn how the removable floor worked.

5. I finally learned what these things are, which I’ve seen decorating the walls of pubs in England, and spotted on the wall at the Saddler & Harness Maker’s shop. They’re called horse brasses.  Here’s a 1939 British Pathé film that explains. I had no idea.

Also, after using my digital camera, with a decent zoom lens, to photograph animals at the Toronto Zoo the day before, I learned that it was tough to go back to using the cell phone camera. Note to self that it’s worth the weight to carry the full-featured camera for better photos.

Black Creek Pioneer Village is museum no. 33 in my #100museums challenge (see 100 Museums Challenge).