At the Museum

Oil Heritage

Learn about the most valuable non-renewable resource in the world at the place where it all began. Students will see how early drillers harvested oil, refined it, and sold it to the world. You will be amazed by how many items are made from crude oil. See the working jerker-lines that have been pumping oil in Oil Springs since 1863. This technology uses simple machines and local materials.

Suggested grade level: 4-10

Geology Rocks

You will learn about the local geology that gave birth to the modern oil industry. You will see the gum beds where the raw crude oil oozes to the surface and look at core samples. Investigate the geologic resources such as oil and salt found in Lambton County.

Suggested grade level: 4-9

Conservation of Energy

What is energy and where does it come from? Students will learn about the different types of energy. You will contrast and compare renewable and non-renewable resources and the role they play in the global energy market. The tour will look at the different perspectives between the historical treatment of the environment and today's environmental protections.

Suggested grade level: 6-7

Pioneer Days

Visit our historic Langbank log cabin, Canadian Drilling Rig, and blacksmith shop. Discuss the different duties between genders during the black gold rush. See how early settlers used simple machines and local resources to shape their environment and start the modern oil industry. Students will get time to make a craft and play with historical wooden toys.

Suggested grade level: 3-4

A Driller's Holiday

Step back in time and experience winter festivities from the mid-19th century. Students will play with wooden toys, make a candle, visit the Langbank log cabin, taste warm wassail and create a holiday craft. Listen to stories about Uncle Harry as he travels around the world drilling for oil and learning about the different local holidays. You will see some of the cultural artifacts collected on his trips.

Suggested grade level: kindergarten - 4

Summer Oil Heritage

Black gold is oozing out of the fields of Oil Springs, attracting both fortune seekers and scoundrels. The modern oil industry was born in the muddy fields of Oil Springs. A person can be poor in the morning and rich in the afternoon. See the first oil well in North America. You can touch the gum beds and jig on the spring pole-drilling rig.

Ages: all ages

Summer Pioneer Program

Step back in time and visit the Langbank log cabin. Take part in activities such as fetching water, washing laundry, and other farm chores. See how different types of work were divided by gender in the mid-1800s. You will explore many of the historic outbuildings on the museum grounds and play traditional games on the lawn. Make a pioneer themed craft as a souvenir.

Ages: 5-12

Muddy Driller Days

It is time to play in the mud. Get dirty playing in one of our mud pits. Kids can make a mud sculpture, mud painting or mud pie in the mud kitchen. Learn what it is like to be a mud engineer on a drilling rig or soil scientist on a farm. This program is only offered on specific weeks of the summer. Contact the museum for details.

Ages: 4-10