HomeMy WebLinkAboutNorth Huron Visitors' Guide, 1988-06-15, Page 10PAGE 10. NORTH HURON VISITORS' GUIDE
'Visitors’ Guide
Hobby becomes popular
attraction at Doll Museum
BY TOBY RAINEY
For hundreds of visitors in the
last year, a visit to the Gingerbread
House Doll Museum in Wroxeter
was like having their fantasies of
their best Christmas ever all come
true.
Displayed on shelves, tables,
special glass-fronted cases and
even on the floor are literally
thousands of dolls from all parts of
the world, from all the years from
the mid 1800’s to the present, and
in all sizes from life-size baby dolls
to the very tiniest of figurines.
This amazing collection belongs
jointly to Eileen Hamilton, a
retired nurse, and to her grown
daughter, Ginny Newell of Wing
ham, with some items on tempor
ary loan from Ginny’s own daugh
Sometimes man can spend a lot of money undoing what
man has done. The Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area in the
southern part of Hullett township provides a perfect
example.
More than a century ago pioneer farmers cleared the
land so they could plant crops only to find that much of the
land flooded each spring. Their clearing drove off much of
the wildlife and the land wasn’t the best for farming in
some areas of what is now the Wildlife Centre. Two
decades ago the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
decided the marsh area was an ideal site for a waterfowl
area. After considerable controversy and with the help of
Ducks Unlimited the Hullett Wildlife Centre was finally
born. Today there is 6,000 acres of land in the Wildlife
Area, with more than 2,000 acres of water where ducks,
geese and other waterfowl live and breed. During
migrations the centre, which is on two migration flight
paths hosts such rare species as white egrets, white
pelicans and Double-crowned Cormarants. It is one of the
largest nesting sites for Great Blue Herons and their
cousins the Green Herons.
The uplands areas provides the spectacular view of
ring-necked pheasants, more than 2,000 of which are
released each year (most are hunted out by hunters before
winter sets in). All kinds of other wildlife including deer
also populate the area as well as a wide variety of
songbirds.
The viewing from the 20 km. of dykes in the area is most
spectacular in migration season when the park plays host
to 6,000 - 10,000 migrating birds.
Hullett Wildlife Centre can be reached by turning east
off Highway 4 on concession 2-3,4-5 or 6-7 of Hullett with
the headquarters and information building being at the
south end of the area on concession 2-3, just north of
Clinton.
ters, Tara, 12 and Kathi, five;
others are on permanent loan as
the cherished possessions of a few
oldsters who have visited the
museum, and who have thought
such a home would be the ideal
pl ace for their own personal and
cherished childhood toys.
Mrs. Hamilton says there are
more than 3,000 dolls on display
right now, with more than 800
others still in boxes in two
bedrooms of her own home waiting
for space in an addition to the
museum, to be built this summer.
There are also a number of
fully-furnished doll houses, the
curator adds, waiting for display
space.
With the museum situated just
behind the large, older home
where she also cares for her
chronically ill husband, George,
Mrs. Hamilton is the full-time
curator of the facility, although
Mrs. Newell is chiefly responsible
for any new acquisitions, attending
antique and nostalgia shows in
both Ontario and the USA when
ever she can, looking for additions
to the collection. What started as a
sort of serious hobby is still very
much a family affair, Mrs. Hamil
ton says: Ginny’s husband, John,
has done nearly all the reconstruc
tion and remodelling of the 24 x 40
ft. building that houses the
collection, and will do most of the
work on the planned addition.
Granddaughter Tara was respon
sible for the name, “Gingerbread
House, ’ ’ and will be working at the
museum this summer as assistant
curator.
In addition, Mrs. Hamilton says
that all that anybody ever gives her
as birthday, Christmas and other
gifts are dolls, or related materials
- “Not that I mind at all!” she adds
with a twinkle.
The Gingerbread House was
officially openedin April, 1987,
with 123 visitors recorded in the
first two hours of operation; last
summer, more than 800 people
signed the visitors’ book, with no
count kept of the number that
actually went through. Visitors
have been recorded from all parts
of Canada and the USA, as well as
from England, Scotland, Austra
lia, New Zealand and Africa.
But Mrs. Hamilton says the idea
for the venture was first born back
in 1974, when she and George sold
their farm in Howick Township and
bought the house in Wroxeter. As
they packed the possessions that
had accumulated in a lifetime that
had included 10 children, Mrs.
Hamilton vowed never to discard
thefamily’sbelovedtoys, espe
cially the dolls. “Theboyswere
harder on their toys,” she remem
bers. “Some of their stuff wasn’t
much good.”
So the dolls and their furnishings
ail went into boxes, and weren’t
thought of much during the next
few busy years. But when Mrs.
Hamilton finally decided to retire
from her nursing job in Fordwich in
1984, she and Ginny decided the
time had come to get serious about
the collection, and began to look for
a building to house it.
At about the same time they saw
a copy of the book “Ghost Towns of
Ontario, ” by Ron Brown, and were
shocked to see that Wroxeter was
written up as one of them. * ‘That’s
it,” the two women decided.
“We’ll start our museum and put
Wroxeter back on the map!”
The original building was once a
portable schoolroom, purchased
from David Smith of Jamestown
and moved up the highway with a
great deal of generous help from a
lot of people, and the family set to
work on it right away. It was
opened for a trial run on Thanks
giving Day, 1986, but not officially
until the following spring, and is
now open three days a week from
May to October, or by appointment
at other times.
The oldest doll in the collection is
one that actually belonged to Mrs.
Hamilton’s great-great-grand
mother when she was a child in the
1860’s. With a papier mache head
and arms and a sawdust-filled cloth
body, it had been wrapped in a
towel in a trunk for several
Continued on page 11
Eileen Hamilton, curator and co-owner of the Gingerbread House Doll
Museum cuddles some beauties popular In the 1940’s. More than
3,000 dolls crowd her delightful domain.
INDULGE
INA-BOOK
Whether your idea of a good book is an exciting romance, an
intense thriller, a collection of science fiction stories, a
politician’s memoir, adelightful fantasy, a home improvement
encyclopedia, or an intricate mystery, you will find among our
8,000 titles a book you can truly enjoy.*
Although our selection of children’s books alone is worth a visit,
we also offer a range of al most 1,000 greeting cards, party
goods, wedding supplies, stamp and coin collectors’
accessories, and much more.
Come and visit. We are on Main street at the city’s traffic light.
*lf we don't have the book in stock, we'll order it for you.
Listowel Book Shop
125 Main St. W., LISTOWEL
Open 6 days a week until 6; Thursday & Friday evening until 9
(519) 291-2145