Doors Open Aurora 2013: Become a tourist in your own back yard!

August 7, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Vanessa Hicks

The 8th annual Doors Open Aurora event will be held on Saturday, August 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This is your chance to become a tourist in your own backyard.
Participation is free and no tickets or reservations are required! Come out and join thousands of visitors exploring Aurora’s hidden treasures, many of which are not normally open to the public. This year, Doors Open Aurora features 17 participating sites.
Don’t miss Trinity Aurora Church located at 79 Victoria Street on Doors Open day. This magnificent Gothic Revival building was constructed in 1884 to replace a previously built church.
The building was completed in 1846 by James Bosanko and the steeple by Thomas Harris. The church displays elaborately detailed dormers, stained glass windows and stenciled ceilings and walls. A new sanctuary was completed in 2001.
Also participating this year, another Gothic Revival church, Aurora United, which was built by Henry Langley in 1878. The first church on this site was a log structure built in 1818. DoorsOpen_Blue
Originally Methodist, the congregation became part of the United Church in 1925. The building lost one of its original spires in the great storm of 1893, and both spires were removed in 1943 having been struck by lightning several times. The sanctuary was last renovated in 2009.
The Rising Sun Masonic Lodge was originally the King Circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was purchased by the Masons in 1885, and remains in use by the Masons today.
The building features a fantastic interior which will be readied for Doors Open visitors as it would for a formal Masons meeting.
Many more sites are also featured this year, including Horton Place, the Benjamin Stephenson House, the Aurora Armoury, the Absalom Blaker House, Merlin’s Hollow, Wells Street Schoolhouse Lofts and more!
Don’t forget to join David Heard on his historic walking tour “Vision to Virtue Aurora: The Little Town that Did”. This tour departs from the Doors Open Aurora headquarters in Town Park at 10 a.m.

For additional information about Doors Open Aurora and to print a copy of the Doors Open Aurora 2013 Map Guide, please visit www.aurora.ca/doorsopen2013

Map Guides will also be available at the Doors Open Aurora headquarters booth at Town Park, located at Mosley Street and Wells Street and other Doors Open Aurora participating sites on the day of the event.