What better way to celebrate Canada Day — which is today, Wednesday, July 1, 2026 — than by highlighting Province House National Historic Site in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, where Canada was officially founded?
Where Canada Was Founded: Province House National Historic Site in Charlottetown
The Canadian Confederation occurred 159 years ago today on Monday, July 1, 1867; and Canada Day celebrates the anniversary of when New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Québec were united into a single dominion called Canada within the British Empire. The construction of Province House was completed 20 years earlier in January of 1847 in neo-classical style by Isaac Smith — who was a local architect — to accommodate the provincial legislature and administrative offices. It also housed the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island until 1872.
Interestingly, Prince Edward Island did not officially became a part of Canada until it became the seventh province of the country four years later on Tuesday, July 1, 1873. Despite hosting the Charlottetown Conference from Friday, September 1, 1864 through Friday, September 9, 1864 that initially laid the groundwork for the foundation of a united Canada, Prince Edward Island initially opted out of Confederation for fears that its small population would be underrepresented and dominated by larger provinces — not to mention that residents opposed paying higher taxes to fund such mainland infrastructure as the intercolonial railway. The colony ultimately agreed to join the Confederation after the federal government resolved severe local debt from railway construction and absentee landlord land disputes.
Final Boarding Call
Province House National Historic Site has been closed for conservation work since 2015 — I was only able to view the outside of the building during my visit earlier this year — but the good news is that access to the grounds outside of the building should be open to the public once again sometime this month; and the building itself is slated to once again be open to the public before the end of 2026.
In the meantime, happy anniversary number 159, Canada!
Province House National Historic Site
165 Richmond Street
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island C1A 1J1
Canada
1-902-566-7050
1-888-773-8888 toll free
pnipe-peinp@pc.gc.ca
Plenty of free parking was available on nearby streets.
All photographs ©2026 by Brian Cohen.
