Matheson House, historic house and museum in Perth, Ontario
Matheson House is a large two-story Palladian-style building made of local sandstone built around 1840 on Perth's main street. The house features a symmetrical front with five sections, a central entrance with a rounded fanlight and side windows, and is surrounded by a stone garden wall with an iron railing and a replica of an old bake oven.
The house was built in 1840 for Roderick Matheson, a Scottish merchant who served in the War of 1812 and was elected to Canada's first legislative council. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1966 to honor its importance to Canadian history.
The house bears the Matheson family name, who lived there for nearly a century and shaped Perth's development. The rooms display how affluent families lived in the 1840s, with formal reception spaces and carefully designed interiors that still reflect the social customs of that era.
The house is located in downtown Perth on Gore Street East and is wheelchair accessible via a ramp from the courtyard entrance. Visitors can tour at a comfortable pace since the main rooms can be seen without climbing stairs, and helpful staff are available to answer questions.
The museum houses a giant cheese made for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and preserves historic dueling pistols from a famous 1833 duel. These unusual objects provide surprising insights into local stories that extend well beyond the house itself.
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