Public Walk: Necropolis and Riverdale Farm

Date: Nov 21, 2026 at 10:00
Meeting Location: Castle Frank Subway station

A walk through historic Cabbagetown offers charming residential streetscapes at every time of year. Our destinations will include the picturesque Necropolis cemetery, dating back to 1850, and Riverdale Farm directly south.  Gothic architecture and nature’s architecture of trees will feature on this outing. There may be hawks. Riverdale Farm will be a spot to consider our society’s evolving relationships with livestock and wildlife. Chickens, horses, goats and sheep are usually year-round residents.  We will walk as far as the Riverdale Park Pedestrian Bridge over the DVP, and then turn back. Our round trip will start and end at Castle Frank subway station. The washroom will be open at the Riverdale Farm Simpson House.

Leader: Ellen Schwartzel

Details: A 2.5-hour, 5 km circular nature and heritage walk on mostly paved surfaces with some gentle slopes. Some stairs

Meeting Spot: Castle Frank Subway station; main entrance at street level. We will walk to Parliament St., then south to Winchester St., then east to the Necropolis.

Getting There: Subway to Castlefrank subway station

Accessibility: Walking on gravel

Washrooms: Along the way

Other Information: Toronto Necropolis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Necropolis

This walk is only one of more than 140 that TFN will host this year alone! TFN members enjoy a complete listing of walks in our newsletter. Not a member? Learn more about the benefits of membership now!

Please tag any photos you take on this walk with #TFNWalk so that we can all live vicariously through your lens.

Toronto Field Naturalists wishes to acknowledge this Land through which we walk. For thousands of years, the Land has been shared by the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and the Anishinaabe. Toronto is situated on the Land within the Toronto Purchase, Treaty 13, the traditional and treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is also part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum, a covenant agreement between Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Wendat peoples and allied nations to peaceably share the land and all its resources. Today, the Land is home to peoples of numerous nations. We are all grateful to have the opportunity to continue to care for and share the beauty of this Land.