Canadian Canoe Museum celebrates new lakeside location in Peterborough, Ont.

The Canadian Canoe Museum is now open on Ashburnham Drive on the shore of Little Lake, showcasing hundreds of watercraft and other artifacts. The museum first opened in 1997.

The newly located Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ont., opens to visitors on Monday, showcasing its record collection of paddled watercraft.

On Saturday, dignitaries, supporters and donors gathered to hold a grand opening of the museum now on Ashburnham Drive on shore of Little Lake. The museum relocated from a cramped and aging building on Monaghan Road where it had been between 1997 until it closed in September 2022. The building was formerly an Outboard Marine Corp. factory that closed in 1990.

The new museum boasts more than 600 watercraft, 500 paddles, hundreds of other artifacts and more inside the 65,000-square-foot building.

Outside, the museum features canoe and kayak launches onto Little Lake, two docks, and an area for outdoor education.

An emotional museum executive director Carolyn Hyslop says the goal was to build “a home” for the canoes, people and “for the story.”

“Oh my goodness, I think we’ve done it,” she said to a rousing applause.

“We made it happen. We are in the most exquisite facility that couldn’t be more better,” she said. “And this is where we’re going to spend many, many more years. This is the beginning of the next chapter and I can’t wait to get started with everybody.”

Hyslop noted the $45-million project has been fully funded thanks to donors and all levels of government, led by $10 million federally. Among the biggest private donations was one from the W. Garfield Weston Foundation, which contributed $7.5 million in 2018.