Touring by foot

By Miranda Monahan

Windsorites and visitors can tour the city on foot, through the walking tours Windsor has to offer.

Windsor has three walking tours, including the Walkerville Heritage Walking Tour, the Sandwich Heritage Walking Tour and tours of the sculpture garden at the Art Gallery of Windsor. The tours are put on by Museum Windsor, and the tour season begins in late April.

The Walkerville Heritage Walking Tour takes visitors to over 40 different locations including Hiram Walker’s semi-detached houses, the Walkerville Brewery, Walkerville Collegiate Institute and the Low-Martin House. The tour takes approximately two hours to complete.

The Sandwich Heritage Walking Tour takes visitors to well-known locations in one of Windsor’s original neighborhoods, including Assumption Church, Assumption College, Dillon Hall and Assumption Cemetery.

“Sandwich we launched this year and Walkerville we launched last year,” said Kristina Tang, acting heritage planner for the City of Windsor.

Locations on the tours are chosen through public input and museum staff determine which places have stories they can tell the public. Some locations are also listed on the municipal heritage registry.

Matthew Pritchard is the education and programming coordinator for Museum Windsor.

“The Sandwich Tour was started with the Heritage Planning Office working with Museum Windsor to create an walking tour app.  Museum Windsor also offers in-person tours. The first neighbourhood walking tour Museum Windsor conducted, in recent history, was the South Walkerville Great War Street Sign Tour in April 2017,” said Pritchard. “Museum Windsor has offered an art cart and walking tours of the sculpture garden for about a decade.”

Amherstburg used to have the popular Spirits of Amherstburg Ghost Walk, which the organizer no longer runs.

If anyone is interested in going on the walking tours offered in Windsor, more information can be found on citywindsor.ca