A few things you don’t have to know before you come here, but are interesting nonetheless!

From big moments in baseball history to a wine cellar in the clouds, here are a few little-known facts about Canada’s largest city.

The Islands that weren’t

Now accessible by ferry or via a pedestrian tunnel that opened in 2015, the Toronto Islands were once a peninsula. Two powerful storms in 1852 and 1858 separated the islands from the mainland and created the body of water now known as the Eastern Gap.

Where Babe Ruth started

Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run here. The year was 1914, and the legendary slugger was a 19-year-old rookie playing for the minor league Providence Grays. The play happened at Maple Leaf Park at Hanlan’s Point, where a historical plaque now marks the event.

Furry escape artists

In 2016, two capybaras escaped from the High Park Zoo! The rodents of extraordinary size (picture a 100-pound guinea pig) were on the lam for over a month before being trapped and returned to the zoo. Bonny and Clyde, as they’re now known, made international headlines.

Major-leagues

It’s the only city in Canada with seven major-league sports teams. Basketball, football, hockey, baseball, rugby, soccer and lacrosse ⁠— if you’re a sports fan, this is your city. This year, an 18-foot statue paying homage to the 2019 champion Raptors was unveiled at City Hall.

Mass graves

Every city has its dark side. During the cholera outbreaks of 1832 and 1834, hundreds of Torontonians who perished from the disease were quickly buried in a corner of the St. James cemetery on Parliament Street.

10 million trees

The oldest is believed to be a 300-year-old red oak in North York that was the subject of a recent media storm when the house whose land it sits on was put up for sale. The City of Toronto stepped in to save the tree.

World’s highest wine cellar

No surprise ⁠— it’s in the CN Tower. Designed to look like it’s underground although it checks in at 351m above ground, 360 Restaurant’s wine cellar made Guinness World Record history when it opened in 1997.

Canada’s final hanging

Happened at the Don Jail. Capital punishment was officially abolished from Canada’s Criminal Code in 1976. The last two prisoners to be executed were Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas, both convicted of murder. They were hanged on December 11, 1962.

Drake didn’t invent the term “The 6ix”

…although he did popularize it. There are two theories on the origin of the term: one is that it refers to the six boroughs that amalgamated to form Metro Toronto (Etobicoke, Scarborough, York, East York, North York, and the City of Toronto); the other is that it references the city’s area codes, 416 and 647.

A Haunted House

The home of the city’s first mayor is very, very haunted…or so the legends say. Mackenzie House on Bond Street is haunted by stories of ghost sightings, a piano that plays itself, and an antique printing press in the basement coming to life in the dead of night. All this despite the fact that the city brought in an exorcist when the house was donated in 1960. It now operates as a museum ⁠— go and visit if you dare.

One thing’s for sure ⁠— there’s more to Toronto than meets the eye!