Collingwood Museum — Attraction in Collingwood

Friendly, enthusiastic staff, in a great location. The building is clean and features pamphlets for local trails and sights.

I don't see why the museum included a piece called 'The Wreck of the Waubuno' (oil on plywood, 20th century). It's a heavily fictionalized account of something -- it's based loosely on a historical local event, sure, but with perhaps too much artistic licence to fit into a museum label (which might be why the museum label doesn't even begin to try to explain the licences taken in this artwork). The number of people on or leaving the fictional Waubuno (nearly 60) is more than twice the actual number (24). The artwork shows three other boats witnessing the wreck, whereas the last sighting of the real Waubuno was from a lighthouse. There's no precipitation, and a northeasternern wind, even though the wreck occurred during snowfall and a southwestern wind. The boat's beautiful railings, wooden sidings, roof and deck are presented without wear and tear, whereas the real Waubuno had faced well over a decade of cheap pleasure excursions in the Bay, with no replacement of its sidings; in fact, the aging vessel was in the last days of her final season before she was due to be replaced by a more modern boat. And so on.

This colourful art would surely show better in a local civic building or business seeking some 'pop' on...

The Collingwood museum is housed in a replica railway station right across the street from the harbour where ships were built for many years and launched sideways due to the harbour being somewhat low. Although I have visited Collingwood many times when dating a man living in Collingwood maybe 30 years ago and then many times when going skiing, this was my first visit to the museum and awareness of Collingwood's history as a shipping and railway hub until fairly recently. The custodian is very friendly and knowledgeable and the displays reminded me of my parents since I have pictures of them skiing on wooden skiis, apparently mainly made in Collingwood, and I have some old furniture from my parents very similar to some of the furniture on display. As well, the parking is free and a visit to the museum is also free with a suggested donation of 4.00 and a gift shop with hiking trail books and other useful information on sale. there are also free maps of bike trails around...

Though the information was interesting and accurate for this area, we were hoping the museum would have been a little bit more interactive and maybe have things from before the shipping industry was such a large part of the community. Even seeing what the inside of a ship looked like or a passengers cabin on a ship, what they wore, etc. and just more personal stuff like that is what I was hoping to see. It also could have been a little better organized or had more direction on how to go through it. All in all a good experience. You don't need to buy tickets in advance as it is a donation only and self guided tour. It's one story, easily accessible and just a fun little walk through especially if you are interested in the...