Hamilton is a city on the shores of Lake Ontario Canada. It was the home of the steel industry and once had a greater population than Toronto. It is a cool town with Rock T-shirt shops and the like as well as some historical features to visit. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hamilton which although it had a few issues with the room, the stay was very nice and a big shout out to Douglas on the front desk he was awesome, could not have found anyone more helpful.
We found a little take away joint called Burrito Boyz and it was so good that we had dinner from there both nights.
The highlight of Hamilton was the tour around Dundurn Castle. I am not a big one for museums and art galleries but this tour was fun and informative. It is not really a castle just a mansion on a huge estate but the town called it a castle as was it was so big. It is set right on the bank of Lake Ontario. It was built and then later extended and renovated by Sir Allan Mac Nab. He was a lawyer who did very well for himself before moving into politics and eventually being knighted.
The history of the building that is told on the tour is mainly from the diary of once of Mac Nab’s daughters little Sophia who was the eldest daughter from MacNab’s second marriage to Mary Stuart who is related to Camilla Duchess of Cornwell providing Hamilton with a Royal connection.
Mac Nab was well ahead of his times in Canada with his home having gas lighting, lots of windows even in the servants areas and indoor plumbing. Having come from humble beginnings MacNab had a more easy going and familiar relationship with his staff. They were all provided with 3 free beers per day (as water was unsafe to drink) except the cook who had an unlimited beer supply as her working conditions were extremely hot.
The lake freezes over in winter so to keep their food from spoiling they would collect 14 tonnes of ice from the lake and store in the ice room. Here it would stay frozen for 12 months.
Thats so pretty Liz! Is that a wedding in one of the last photos?
Yes there were 2 weddings that day while we were there.
I’m not a big fan of museums or art galleries neither but this one seems to be very interesting, it’s a beautiful place and I hope one day I’ll go to Canada.
Thanks for the information.
I would have liked the cooks job š..interesting how life for them was.
Love these Liz! Crazy thing about this one is I live just over an hours drive from there and didn’t know anything about itš¤
Yes I agree Hamilton is a great place, I grew up in the gta (greater Toronto area) so it’s nice to see you taking a liking to the less famous towns. š