
The Billings Estate Museum
The 'Billings Estate Museum' is an
Ottawa museum located in the former home of one of the region's earliest settlers. The house was built in
1828 by
Massachusetts born
Braddish Billings. It is Ottawa's oldest surviving house, though the
Bytown Museum building is older. Billings had moved to the area in
1812, and was the first settler in
Gloucester Township.
Billings became prosperous in the timber trade, and built the large home that was named Park Hill. Billings later moved into agriculture, and the house became the centre of a large and prosperous farm providing produce for
Bytown, with the farm linked to town by the
Bytown and Prescott Railway.
The estate remained in the Billings family until 1975. Overtime the property was slowly sold off to developers, and today the estate retains only a relatively small plot of land. In 1975 the house became a museum which is today operated by the city of Ottawa.
External links
★
Official site