Summerside: Museums, Theatre and Trails

Summerside offers a range of options to help you plan your stay: the history of fox farming on Prince Edward Island, architecture and museums, live performances, as well as trails and parkland. You can decide whether you’d rather focus on historical exhibits, a guided tour, a performance or time outdoors.

Museums and Architecture in Summerside

At the PEI Fox Museum, exhibits, artefacts and authentic stories explain how people turned fox farming on Prince Edward Island into a globally significant industry. An interactive, self-guided tour explores the island’s silver fox industry. Check booking information in advance for the season of your visit.

The Lefurgey Cultural Centre at 205 Prince Street is a designated heritage property. It is protected by the municipality and included in the provincial and national heritage registers. The focus here is on architectural history.

At the MacNaught History Centre, the exhibition includes a small room with a gold pocket watch that belonged to Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald. Exhibition content may change.

The Wyatt House Museum was built in 1867 and was home to the prominent Wyatt family. A one-hour guided tour covers people, places, ghost stories and artefacts. Check the information for the relevant visiting season for current tour times.

Theatre, Events and Lessons

The Harbourfront Theatre is open year-round and has more than 500 seats. Touring productions in comedy, music, dance, drama and family entertainment take place there. If you want to plan around a particular show, check the dates for your visit.

The Historic Ghostwalk is an annual, one-day guided tour through Summerside’s historic district. The programme features Halloween stories and the island’s dark history. Unlike the year-round theatre, planning for this event depends on the date of the annual tour, so check dates and ticket information for the year you have in mind.

The College of Piping in Summerside offers lessons in bagpiping, Scottish snare drumming, tap dancing and Highland dancing. These clearly defined disciplines are part of the city’s cultural offerings alongside museums and stage productions.

Parks and Trails

At 53 acres, Rotary Friendship Park is Summerside’s largest municipal park. Visitors can cycle along the waterfront promenade and on several municipal trails. The Confederation Trail runs through the centre of Summerside and includes a pavilion marking the birthplace of the Trans Canada Trail. The park, cycling opportunities and trail offer different experiences, from the size of an urban green space to a trail link running through the city centre with a commemorative site.

Culture Across the Wider Prince County Destination

Across the wider Prince County destination, other museums explore different aspects of regional history. The Tignish Cultural Centre houses a museum with artefacts and documentation on local history and culture. The Tryon Museum explores the region’s Indigenous, Acadian and early European settlement. The Acadian Museum traces the history of Acadians on Prince Edward Island from 1720 to the present. Its offerings include permanent and changing exhibitions, a bilingual video presentation, historical paintings by Claude Picard and genealogical resources.

Discover more destinations: Tignish, Bedeque, Borden-Carleton, Kensington, Prince Edward, Miscouche, O'leary.

Return to the wider travel overview: Prince County.