Howick Historical Village

About

Howick Historical Village is a living museum of colonial Auckland between 1840 and 1880, set across seven acres in Lloyd Elsmore Park. Restored buildings have been brought here and furnished as they would have been, including a general store, a schoolhouse, thatched cottages, a church and a hotel. Bell House, built in 1851, was home to the captain who commanded the Howick Fencibles. What lifts it above a static display is the Live Days, run roughly monthly on a Sunday, when costumed interpreters work the site and you get butter churning, blacksmithing and Victorian schooling rather than a rope line. There is a cafe and a gift shop, and a free wheelchair can be booked. The heritage buildings and shell paths do limit mobility access in places.