A building this old is kept up by hand.
The Cottage was restored with cedar shakes split by volunteers, mortar mixed the way a mason would have mixed it in 1835, and floorboards numbered, lifted and washed one at a time. Keeping it that way costs money every year.
The roof
Volunteers hand-split the cedar shakes for the first roof. Twenty years on, the 2022 replacement was a job for professionals — the kind of bill donations exist for.
Walls and walkways
The boardwalk gets rebuilt a plank at a time and the west wall repainted, by volunteers. The labour is given; the lumber and paint are not.
Through the winter
The museum room has plumbing, so it’s heated all winter, even in the weeks the Cottage is closed. Add power, water, insurance, and the rent we pay the City for the park, and that’s the cost of a year in which nothing goes wrong.
Give online
Credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Tax receipts are issued for gifts of
$20 or more, and are sent or emailed to you in time for your taxes
Canada and Ontario are filled in for you — change them if
you’re giving from elsewhere. Processed by Zeffy, a free platform for
non-profits, so 100% of your gift reaches the Cottage.
e-Transfer, cheque, or at the door
Interac e-Transfer
Send to tollkeeperscottage@gmail.com from your Canadian bank’s
website or app. Include your name and mailing address in the message box so we can
issue your receipt.
e-Transfer questions
Security question? None needed — our account auto-deposits.
Confirmation? You’ll receive an email when your gift arrives.
Fees? Your own bank may charge for e-Transfers — check with them.
By cheque
Payable to the Community History Project, mailed to
207–580 Christie St., Toronto ON M6G 3E3. Include your name and
address in a covering note so we can send your receipt.
In person
Cash is gratefully accepted any time we’re open at 750 Davenport Road at
Bathurst — including on our guided walks, where donations count toward a
receipt.
Receipts for e-Transfer and cheque gifts of $20 or more are mailed each
February for the previous year. Booked group visit fees are not eligible for a receipt.
We are looking for a wooden pail, a tin sconce, and a pair of boots.
The Cottage is furnished as a poor family would have furnished it in 1861 — a
way of life that almost never survives in a city’s heritage houses, because
nobody thought to keep it. If any of this is in your basement, we would be glad to
hear from you.
Pre-1860 household things
Wooden pails and yokes, tin candle sconces, everyday dishes, cotton or linen bed
sheets, period clothing and shoes, children’s toys. Nothing grand —
the ordinary things are the ones we’re missing.
A skill to lend
Supporters have given carpentry, electrical work, photography, graphic design,
gardening, and baking for Cookie Day. Trades and crafts we can’t buy are
worth more to this building than most cheques.
Your Saturdays
Docents in period dress, archivists, gardeners, event planners, bakers.
High-school students earn volunteer hours; retirees find good company.
Or join us instead
Membership is $20 a year, or $35 for two adults in a family — a vote at the annual meeting, a place at the potluck, and a receipt.
The Tollkeeper’s Cottage is operated by the Community History
Project, a registered Canadian charity. Charitable registration no. 846998755RR0001.