Ingersoll Cheese Museum

What You See

The museum opened on 27 August 1977 in a re-created 19th-century cheese factory. A barn was taken apart, moved to Centennial Park and rebuilt in the shape of a typical Oxford County factory. The building is a replica, but everything inside came from working cheese factories, including the presses.

More buildings have been added since. There is a working blacksmith shop, two barns, a bread oven and a schoolhouse set up as one-room schools from two different periods. The main building holds the Ingersoll Sports Hall of Fame, the woodcarvings of Wilson Johnston and the local history galleries. The collection runs to more than 45,000 objects.

The Cheese Playground

Behind the main building, in Centennial Park, is Canada's only cheese playground, next to a covered picnic pavilion. Further along the lane are an accessible playground and splash pad. It is the obvious stop if you are travelling with children.

Tickets and Hours

General admission is by donation. Group tours cost $5 per person plus tax and school programmes $7 per student plus tax. The museum opens Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 16:30, from September to mid-May, and seven days a week at the same hours from mid-May to the end of August. The gift shop sells local cheese, sweets, books and souvenirs, and has tourist information for the cheese trail.

Small children must stay with an adult, and only registered service animals are allowed in the main building. The museum holds seasonal events too; in 2026 a PumpkinFest ran on 24 October.

Getting There

The museum is about 1 km north of Highway 401 at exit 218, with free parking on site. It is also Ingersoll's cycling hub. The Thomas Ingersoll Trail follows Hall's Creek from the park to downtown.

Nearby

Ingersoll was a cheese town long before the museum. James Harris had his factory down the road, where the Elm Hurst Inn now stands at 415 Harris Street, and the inn sells a Cheese Trail package. In town, The Wine Cellar and Cheese Shop is at 188 Thames Street South. The museum is the hub of the Oxford County Cheese Trail, so it makes a good first stop before Gunn's Hill, Bright and the farm cheesemakers around Woodstock and Tillsonburg.