Bellevue House in Kingston, Ont. is a National Historic Site, and was the home of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister, from 1848 to 1849.Parks Canada
We pass through an arched doorway that indicates a change in the “status of the rooms,” says Tamara van Dyk of Parks Canada. Here is where John A. Macdonald bathed; right in front of us is his oddly-shaped, green slipper tub. And since Sir John A. was a natty dresser – ”He would rent his clothes in a lot of cases to keep up appearances,” says Ms. van Dyk – we are treated to an outfit, complete with shoes and a top hat.
But beside that is a ribbon skirt and a photograph of Isabella Kulak. Ms. Kulak, from Cote First Nation in Saskatchewan, is the 10-year-old who was shamed for wearing the traditional piece of clothing to her school’s formal day in 2020. And although the school later apologized, the incident snowballed and Manitoba Sen. Mary Jane McCallum championed a bill to create the first National Ribbon Skirt Day on Jan. 4, 2021.
“We invited her and her family here,” says Ms. van Dyk. “Here” is 35 Centre St. in Kingston. Known as Bellevue House, it’s a National Historic Site, and was Macdonald’s residence, briefly, from 1848 to 1849. “She gave us permission … and she told us that they were very happy to hear that we were being more inclusive.”
And that’s the thing. In almost every room of this 3,800-square-foot Italianate residence, Parks Canada has turned the traditional museum on its head. Yes, a visitor will learn about John A. Macdonald (1815-1891) and his Canada-building legacy as our first Prime Minister, but one will also leave with an understanding that the country he built didn’t include everybody. Unveiled in the summer of 2024 after years of planning, it’s a house museum that will leave you with more questions than answers.
Even outside, the coach house (now the Visitor’s Centre) proudly wears a mural by Toronto-based Indigenous artist Chris Mitchell.
Walk inside, and the first-time visitor will choose from a quick 30-minute tour, a two-hour tour with guides in Victorian clothing called Keeping Up Appearances, which examines the inequalities of the class system (this writer was assigned the role of maid-of-all-work, and his wife the gardener), or something called Unpacking Macdonald, which gets so gritty with racism and sexism that the Parks Canada website advises participants to “bring an open mind and open heart.”
No matter which is chosen, there will be unpacking. Even on the brief walk from Visitor’s Centre to the house, our little group encounters real life quotes collected by Parks Canada staff over the past few years on Macdonald’s legacy (“He did some good things, he did some bad things”).
Walk in the front door (or the tiny rear door if you’re the maid-of-all-work) and after noting that all trim is pine painted to look like oak, we enter one of the principal rooms and learn about the 33-year-old Macdonald and his very sick wife Isabella. But we’re also reminded that Indigenous people didn’t believe in private ownership of land. In the dining room – the pineapple wallpaper is fantastic, and your guide will remind you that pineapples were so rare the wealthy would rent one to put on display at dinner – we pause to think about how that rich food and those rare spices were acquired.
Isabella’s room forces us to think about the privilege of health care, and how it wasn’t available to everyone in the 1840s, and the maid’s room – no wallpaper or symbols of wealth here – helps frame the Irish immigrant story and the dream for a better life during the Great Famine.
As we climb the stairs to the second floor, we hear the song Wildflower: “When [European] people would raid the [Indigenous] villages, the children would hide, and then the women would drum to call the children back from the forest,” explains Ms. van Dyk. In the guest room, we wonder who may have been on Sir John A.’s guestlist, and a large screen featuring French, Chinese, Irish, Black and Indigenous speakers is a subtle way of bringing those who never would have into the room.
The nursery, which proudly displays Macdonald’s actual crib – a Gothic contraption that would frighten today’s parents – is dedicated to the smallest voices. Opposite is an Indigenous cradleboard. In here, we learn of Macdonald’s three children, but also about what it was like to be a poor child in the mid-1800s; in a video screen set into an old, pockmarked school desk, we learn a little about the residential school system (in place long before Macdonald became Prime Minister). “There’re new historic sites in Canada that we recommend if people really want to know more,” says Ms. van Dyk.
In Sir John A.’s bedroom, we consider the power of one person and, in the kitchen, we decompress and clear our minds. Finally, in the basement, Ms. van Dyk opens a trunk that contains a carved beaver, a Sir John A. ‘action figure,’ books on his legacy, a model train, and a stuffed bison in order to do a “prop talk.” It’s an opportunity to laugh, exchange ideas, and wrap up our visit … one of the most exciting visits to a house museum I’ve ever experienced.
Why? Because a museum and its artifacts are vehicles for storytelling, and Canada’s story has become much larger and far more complex than the one we were told as children.
“We’re pretty proud of the work we’ve done,” finishes Ms. van Dyk. “We’ve had visitors come in and say ‘That’s my grandfather,’ or ‘My grandfather was a Chinese worker’ or ‘I’m of Irish descent.’ They have connections to the faces on the wall and the stories we are sharing.”
Bellevue House opens for the season on Saturday, May 17, 2025 and runs to Thanksgiving Monday. bellevue.house@pc.gc.ca