Cobourg has a good collection of Museums although not all are called museums.
Since they are mostly operated by Volunteers, most are not open all year nor all day – see the descriptions for their hours or better still, go to their web sites by clicking on the links provided. You can easily get directions to their locations by googling their addresses. With two exceptions (Sports Hall of Fame and NCAM), they are all within walking distance of each other and located in Downtown Cobourg.
- Canadian Women in Film - previously the Marie Dressler Museum - open by appointment
- Cobourg and Area Museum - previously called the Sifton-Cook Heritage Centre - open weekends Victoria Day (May) to Thanksgiving (October)
- Cobourg and District Sports Hall of Fame - open
- Art Gallery of Northumberland - open Tuesday to Saturday
- James Cockburn Room - closed - open on special occasions
- Northumberland County Archives & Museum (NCAM)
Canadian Women in Film
Marie DresslerThis museum is housed in the Marie Dressler House - which by itself is of interest - and uses current technology to full advantage.
Did you know that in the 1920s and 1930s women ruled Hollywood?
- Between 1922 and 1925 half of all films were written by women
- The important social issues of the day were raised by women screenwriters
- The largest salaries were earned by women actors
- Canadian Mary Pickford was the first actor to negotiate and receive a million dollar a year salary
- The top movie-making stars were women between 1932 and 1938
- The top grossing actor in Hollywood in both 1932 and 1933 was Canadian-born Marie Dressler
- By 1935 women comprised over 70% of movie audiences
During the first four years of the Academy Awards, the Best Actress Oscar went to three Canadian-born women who found their way to Hollywood, namely Mary Pickford (1929), Norma Shearer (1930), and Marie Dressler (1931).
But their ground-breaking influence came to an end in the mid-1940s and they are still working to gain their well deserved recognition and influence in the film industry!
Visit the Canadian Women in Film Museum to learn about the journey for women in film that connects to today’s efforts to achieve gender equality.
The Museum is operated by the Marie Dressler Foundation which is a registered charity whose mission is to make sure that Marie Dressler is remembered. It was created to raise money to restore her house when it was burnt down in 1989.
Location
In Dressler House at 212 King street West (Hwy 2), Cobourg.
Hours
Open in 2026 by appointment via their web site here: Canadian Women in Film Go to "Plan your visit"
Originally simply the Marie Dressler Museum, Marie Dressler Foundation has expanded the museum to include the other two female Oscar winning Canadian stars Mary Pickford and Norma Shearer.
Links
Cobourg and Area Museum
The Centre is operated by the Cobourg Museum Foundation which is a volunteer run, registered, not-for-profit charity, founded in 1999 by a group of citizens concerned about the state of near collapse of the limestone building locally known as the “barracks” believed to be the only limestone building ever constructed in the area. The building is now thought to originally be a brewery house and is now used to house different exhibitions every summer. The museum building is now called the Sifton-Cook Exhibit Hall.
A popular extra is an operating outdoor model railway with a scale model of the since failed bridge over Rice Lake. There is also a gift shop on site.
Location
141 Orr Street, Cobourg
Hours of Opening
The Cobourg & Area Museum is open to the public from the Victoria Day Weekend to the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday.
MAY, JUNE, SEPT, OCT
Saturdays 10am – 5pm
Sundays 1pm – 5pm
Holiday Mondays 10am – 5pm
JULY & AUGUST
Daily Wednesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm
Sundays 1pm – 5pm
Holiday Mondays 10am – 5pm
Links
For more details see their web site: Cobourg Museum Foundation
Cobourg and District Sports Hall of Fame
Local Sports enthusiasts have collected some memorabilia and stories for the last century or so and remembered them in displays in the Cobourg Community Centre’s Grand Hall. Opened in early 2019, there will be 8 inductees each year..
Hours
Since the exhibits are housed in the Community Centre, the hours are the same as the Community Centre: Most days: 7:00 am to 8:00 pm; closed some Holidays and open later if there is a major event.
Web site
The Cobourg and District Sports Hall of Fame has a large web site: https://cdshf.ca/
Links
Art Gallery of Northumberland
The mandate of the Art Gallery of Northumberland is to promote and provide access to art and related programs as a community gallery for the enjoyment and education of the people of Northumberland County.
The AGN exists to serve all of Northumberland County as a public gallery. It presents intellectually stimulating exhibitions and programming, as well as maintaining a permanent collection of visual arts. Along with exhibitions the AGN fulfills their mandate through educational activities which encourage active dialogue between the Gallery audience and the visual arts; including lectures, films, workshops, artist talks and tours.
There are professionally curated exhibitions at the gallery at all times – they are rotated through so that repeat visits are worthwhile.
Location
Victoria Hall, 55 King Street West, West Wing, Third Floor
Hours
Monday: Closed
Tuesday to Friday: 10 am – 4 pm except Thursday to 8:00 pm
Saturdays and Sundays: Noon to 4 pm.
Contact:
Links
Art Gallery of Northumberland web site
James Cockburn Room
In Victoria Hall, there is a room set up as it might have been when James Cockburn had an office there in the 1860’s. James was one of Canada’s fathers of Confederation. A good summary of what he is famous for is here. On special occasions this room is open to the public – these days are not frequent but you can be assured that any day dedicated to James such as the James Cockburn day on the first Monday in August will be one of them. If you go on one of the tours of Victoria Hall in the summer, you will also likely see the room.
For many years, Rob Franklin dressed as James Cockburn and performed in a play – just outside Victoria Hall or the Sifton-Cook Museum (see above) on the Saturday of the long weekend at the start of August.
In 2017, the actual chair used by James was on loan to Cobourg – see the photo with Rob.
Location
Victoria Hall, 55 King Street West, ground floor.
Northumberland County Archives & Museum (NCAM)
Now housed in the Golden Plough Building.at William and Elgin. 
The logo for the new facility is at right.
Northumberland County has officially opened the doors to the new Northumberland County Archives and Museum (NCAM), providing a purpose-built space to preserve, care for and share the region’s history, records, artifacts and stories for generations to come. Designed to meet Canadian Heritage Category A curatorial standards, NCAM will help preserve municipal records and collections, while offering enhanced opportunities for public access, research, programming and exhibitions.
NCAM was built as a unique pairing alongside the newly opened Golden Plough Lodge long-term care home in Cobourg, to provide unique history programing, specialized spaces, proper environmental conditions, and modern technology for the long-term preservation and care of collections.
The facility includes:
- The Stewart Richardson Gallery, NCAM’s main exhibition space and home to its inaugural exhibition, Gidinawendimin;
- The Parker Westgate Studio, equipped with state-of-the-art digitization technology to help make collections more accessible;
- A Reading Room, sponsored by Cameco, providing space for research as well as community and family-focused programming;
- Climate-controlled collection storage to protect archival records and artifacts;
- A dedicated processing and conservation lab for the care and preparation of collections; and
- A quarantine area for newly received and unprocessed materials, helping protect the permanent collection.
NCAM is open to the public following regular public hours:
Monday/Tuesday: closed
Wednesday: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Thursday 1:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Friday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
The first Saturday of every month: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm (special children’s programming)
Research services and access to collections are available by appointment. To book a research appointment and student field trips, contact
Staff
- Katie Kennedy - NCAM Curator
- Abigail Miller - NCAM Archivist
They can be reached at
Web site Facebook Their Facebook page is current and worth a visit