The province of Ontario is home to many important historic homes, including the homes of Prime Ministers, authors, inventors and an eccentric or two. (Shown is Castle Kilbride, the National Historic Site in Baden)

If it's history you want, then history, we've got. In the province of Ontario alone, there are 256 official National Historic Sites, plus hundreds of other museums, historic buildings, heritage villages and plaqued locations. And if your interests lie in the area of domestic history, decor, and life in past times, almost 50 of the province's National Historic Sites are historic homes.
Not all of these buildings are open to the public, but a surprising number are. And for reasons known only to history, there are several regions in the province that are especially rich with historic homes. We'll recommend three such districts at the end of this article.
Overall, historic homes fall into two categories. Some have been preserved because they are associated with famous Canadians. Others, because their style, architecture or decor have historical significance. Many in both categories are now museums, or are associated with adjoining museums.
In Ontario, there are historic homes associated with Canadian politicians, such as Bellevue House, in Kingston, once the home of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister. Bellevue has been restored to the 1840s period, and the house and gardens are kept much as they would have been during the time that Macdonald lived here with his wife and infant son.
Two fascinating mansions are connected to Canada's longest-serving Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. King was raised at Woodside, in Kitchener, now beautifully restored as it would have been in 1891. And in Ottawa, one of the less-known gems of the Nation's Capital is Laurier House, home of two Prime Ministers ­ first Sir Wilfrid Laurier and later King ­- where there is a fascinating display of memorabilia, including original photographs of many world leaders, autographed for King.
Some of the most intriguing Ontario homes are connected to other famous Canadians. Writers are prominent in this list ­- no question as to who is the star at the Stephen Leacock Museum, in the former Leacock Home on Old Brewery Bay in Orillia -­ or should that be, Mariposa.
Lucy Maud Montgomery is honoured at the Leaskdale Manse, in Leaskdale (Uxbridge), where she created Canada's most famous fictional citizen, Anne of Green Gables.
Poet Pauline Johnson ("The Song My Paddle Sings") was raised at Chiefswood, now a museum on the Six Nations Grand River Reserve near Oshweken.
In Guelph, McCrae House (built in 1858) was the birthplace of poet, doctor and soldier John McCrae, who wrote perhaps the best-known war poem ever, the poignant "In Flanders' Fields". Appropriately, McCrae House is also famed for its flower gardens.
And speaking of war heroes, visitors to Owen Sound will want to visit the boyhood home of World War I flying ace Billy Bishop.
Important Canadian inventors and entrepreneurs are also remembered in their own homes. Alexander Graham Bell's remarkable career is on display at the Bell Homestead in Brantford, while the work of Sir Frederick Banting, the Nobel Laureate who discovered insulin, is honoured at Banting House in London.
Other historic houses in Ontario are honoured more for their architecture than their former occupants. Two of these are (perhaps over-enthusiastically) known as castles ­- Dundurn Castle in Hamilton (a 72-room house built in 1835), and Castle Kilbride in Baden (completed in 1878), a more modest mansion, known for its spectacular wall and ceiling murals.
Decor is also key to the importance of Annandale House in Tillsonburg, built in the 1880s in the style of the Aesthetic Art Movement.
Fascinating, historic homes have been preserved all across the province ­- with the notable exception of our provincial Capital, Toronto, which has very few. Heritage houses can be found from Amherstburg to Williamstown. Some have been relocated into excellent historic villages, such as Doon Heritage Crossroads in Kitchener, or the Backhouse Mill and its attendant village near Long Point.
There are, as noted above, several areas especially rich in historic homes. Not surprisingly, Ottawa is one of them, and perhaps the most spectacular is a residence still in daily use ­ as well as being open to the public. That would be Rideau Hall, home of our Governor General. Visit in the warm months, when you can also tour the garden.
Hamilton, Brantford and district is also a good place for a day's historic outing. In addition to Dundurn, visitors will enjoy Whitehern, built in 1848, former home to one of the city's most prominent families. Whitehern boasts excellent gardens. Brantford is just west of Hamilton on Highway 403, with the Bell Homestead, and in the same area are other historic homes open to visitors. The Adelaide Hunter Hoodless Homestead, in St. George, commemorates the founder of the Women's Institute. The W.I. has also restored the 1808 Erland Lee Home and Museum in Stoney Creek.
A third pocket of preservation is Waterloo Region. Kitchener ­is home to four important heritage homes and sites: Doon Heritage Crossroads, Mackenzie King's Woodside, Homer Watson House (home of the Canadian landscape artist), and the excellent Joseph Schneider Haus, an original pioneer home restored to the early part of the 19th century. And only minutes west is Castle Kilbride.
Here is the historic truth: wherever you go in the province of Ontario, odds are good you will find yourself on the doorstep of real, living heritage.