Afternoon Tea at Toronto's First Post Office

[rusty_armour]

I know. Three posts in two days is a bit excessive for me (even when it's fic-related), but I had to write something about my afternoon tea experience. Muddy York Tours sent out an email invitation to people who had gone on walks this year to attend a holiday tea and history talk in the museum at Toronto's First Post Office, so I thought I'd accept. I liked the idea of sipping tea in front of a Georgian fireplace and hearing stories about how certain Christmas traditions came to Toronto. As I hadn't been to Toronto's First Post Office before I was really curious to see it and I thought the stories should be good. Anywaaaay, to make a rambling story slightly shorter, I had a really lovely time.

Richard, the founder of Muddy York Tours had set up tables with treats and Christmas crackers. There was also a little colour pamphlet for everyone with a picture of the world's first commercially produced Christmas card on the front and some interesting historical information inside. Oh, and we each got our own pot of hot water and were given a choice of teas. I shared a table with five ladies, who were very nice to the strange woman who had been inserted into their party.

The post office is quite fascinating. It was built in 1833, which makes it one of the only Georgian buildings in the city. It's also one of the few surviving buildings from the old Town of York. Unfortunately, the only original aspects of the post office is the fireplace and the exterior of the building itself. However, there are a number of replicas inside, including an old press and some nibs and quills. In fact, the museum allows you to write your own letters using quills dipped in inkwells. Besides being a museum, the building now functions as an official post office once again. Full postal service re-commenced in 1983 after the Town of York Historical Society had the building restored after a fire in 1978. The post office has this old-fashioned look about it, and I absolutely love the front door. It had this tiny little door knob on the outside, but from the inside it's more complex. When people were leaving, Richard had to lift this wooden weight that was attached to a kind of pulley. There was also a metal grate that had to be opened once the weight had been lifted. In other words, we were essentially locked inside the post office.

The talk was very engaging. We learned about historical events that took place around the holidays, such as the signing of the Treaty of Ghent (a peace treaty for the War of 1812) on December 24, 1814. Richard also talked more about the history of the post office, the introduction of various Christmas traditions in Canada (mostly through Britain), and even Charles Dickens' visit to York (e.g. Toronto).

All in all, it was a very worthwhile experience. I was even given some leftover goodies to take home and it was nice to know that part of the money I paid went to maintaining the museum.

Comments

[crew4.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a wonderful afternoon. They just don't have things like that in Hamilton. I love history and I'm always wanting to know more, so this sounds like something I'd really enjoy. I'm sure the other five ladies didn't think you were too strange :-)

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry they don't have things like that in Hamilton. By the sounds of it, you probably would have enjoyed the afternoon tea given your love of history.

It's nice of you to think that the other five ladies didn't find me strange. I'm pretty reserved and self-conscious around people I don't know, so it's possible that I'm making assumptions about how I think they saw me rather than how they actually saw me. *g*

[karen9.livejournal.com]

It sounds like an enjoyable experience. I like old post offices. I'm glad that your post office functions again. I find it sad to see a lot of small old post offices now closed and converted into shops.

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

I have to confess that I haven't been in a lot of old post offices. I think they're pretty rare in Toronto. In fact, a lot of post offices are located within drug stores or convenience stores. In any case, I think you would have liked Toronto's First Post Office, not to mention the tea and history talk.

[sublunarfields.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a very interesting afternoon. I love history and I so wish we had something like that here, even if it's a miserable little dump of a town these days. And post offices... Don't even get me started. The creeps in government have pretty much killed our post offices and we had, as far I know, the oldest postal service in the world. We do still have postal services, only just, but they like to take at least one day off every week and sometimes they don't bother emptying post boxes around town. Grr. Sorry, I guess I got started anyway... ;)

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

If you love history then I'm sure you would have enjoyed visiting the post office and hearing the lecture. If it makes you feel any better, there's only postal delivery five days a week in Canada. Well...I think Canada Post might pick up mail on Saturdays, but none is delivered. In fact, the only time I can remember mail being delivered on a Saturday was when the last Harry Potter novel was released and some special deal was made with Canada Post. *g*

[sublunarfields.livejournal.com]

Yes, I guessed so. Oh, well, I did go to a thing about the first hospital in this town, and that was interesting too, so we do have something even here.
Actually, we don't have mail delivery on the weekends, haven't had since my mom was young. The only exception is when there are too many red letter days in a row, around Christmas or so, in which case the mailmen might deliver on a Saturday or even a Sunday, but that's only happened once as far as I remember. They do pick up mail on a Saturday, but very early.

Soon we won't even be allowed our own mailboxes anymore. Apparently it's considered too arduous for the mailmen to go to each house, so we'll get communal post boxes in every block or so, then have to go and pick up our own mail there. And - having a post office box is only allowed for businesses, so we can't get one like that either, even if we could afford it. Apparently, they're hideously expensive too. Rant over for this comment anyway. Promise. :)

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Learning about the first hospital in your town sounds pretty cool. I'm glad your town takes some interest in historical buildings.

I'm sorry you don't have mail delivery on weekends. I read your original comment fairly late at night, so my brain probably wasn't working properly... *g*

It's horrible that you don't have your own mailboxes anymore. I thought Canada Post could be bad, but they haven't yet declared that it's too arduous to go to every house. I don't blame you for ranting about a communal post box. That would make me angry too. :-(

[boobamiaow.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely and just the sort of thing I'd enjoy too. Glad you had a nice time :O)

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you would have enjoyed it, boobamiaow. I think it would have been right up your street. :-) Anyway, I did have a nice time and hope to take part in some other Muddy York Tours events. Richard mentioned that he was hoping to test out a couple of new tours in the spring and said that some of us could be guinea pigs if we'd like. I think I might take him up on the offer.

[avictoriangirl]

Oooh, that sounds like something that I would enjoy doing, but then I love any kind of old building. ;) The outside of the post office is just fabulous!

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

I actually thought of you when I saw the building, given your interest in historical architecture! :-) Yes, I think you would have really enjoyed afternoon tea in Toronto's First Post Office. It's a very interesting building -- both inside and out. In fact, there's a couple of old buildings along that part of Adelaide that are quite striking, such as the Bank of Upper Canada Building (http://www.torontohistory.org/Pages_ABC/Bank_of_Upper_Canada_Building.html). If you check out the link in the previous sentence be sure to scroll down to the black and white photograph. You can make out both the Bank of Upper Canada Building and Toronto's First Post Office.

[avictoriangirl]

Oh wow, thanks for the link, those buildings are great! :)

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

No problem, avictoriangirl! I'm glad you liked the buildings! :-)

[tazzles.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting. What a great place to have an afternoon tea.
Thanks for sharing!

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Hey, tazzles! Happy Belated Christmas! Sorry I didn't respond to your comment sooner. I've just returned from spending a few days with my parents. Anyway, it was definitely an interesting and worthwhile experience. I'm glad you enjoyed reading about it. :-)