Petrolia was once Canada’s first boom towns with the discovery of oil early on in the towns history. Prior to the 19 hundreds, Petrolia supplied 90 percent of Canada’s oil needs. Eventually the supply slowed and developers took their technology and applied it to various oil fields around the world.

Today, the town of Petrolia reflects that early wealth in the lavish Victorian houses that line the streets. Bridgeview Park, once a field of three pole oil derricks is now a scenic park, complete with water fountain and a covered bridge. The Victoria Playhouse Petrolia is a 430 seat playhouse with summer theatre and various performers year round.

While visiting Petrolia be sure to see The Petrolia Discovery, a 60 acre living history museum where visitors can see first hand how crude oil was drawn from the ground in the late 19 th century. Watch for oil wells that are still functional in working oil fields just north of Petrolia, where you can see how little has changed over the last 140 years of continuous oil extraction. These local oil wells have yielded over 10 million barrels of oil in the past century.