Village Squire, 1978-05, Page 12Area blessed
with interesting museums
There are several excellent museums in Western Ontario that
can provide an interesting and educational afternoon's outing for
the whole family. They cover a wide range of subjects.
You can travel north this summer to the Bruce County
Museum on Victorian Street, Southampton for instance where
you can see, among other things, an excellent display of Indian
artifacts from the early age of Bruce County. You can learn a
great deal about the lifestyle before the white man arrived on a
visit here. There's also a reconstructed log cabin on the site.
Down the lakeshore in Goderich the Huron County Pioneer
Museum has one of the finest collections of pioneer artifacts to
be found anywhere in Canada. The collection is largely the work
of the founder of the museum J.H. Neil. He spent the early part
of his life collecting pioneer objects from around Huron county
_hen he wasn't working at his job as a harness maker in Gorrie.
In 1939 he was asked to display his collection at the Goderich
fair and in years later trucked his display, which was becoming
ever larger, around the county to fairs. He was helped by
donations from the Women's Institutes in the county to transport
the collection. As the years went by the collection became just
too big to move.
In 1946 Mr. Neil offered to sell the collection to the Huron
County council to start a museum. Two years later, in 1948 they
agreed to purchased 600 pieces to begin the museum, with the
understanding that the collection would be increased to 1000
articles. In 1950 the old Central Public School in Goderich
became available and the county was convinced to buy the
building to house the museum. Mr. Neil spent that fall and
winter in Goderich living in the old school and organizing the
museum. The museum opened the next year and since then has
grown and grown. You can see articles as large as a steam
locomotive housed inside the building. There are more than
12,000 pieces in the museum's collection. The largest part of the
collection is pioneer machinery and household effects that let you
see just how the pioneers lived. The museum on North Street is
open daily during the summer months.
Gerrard's
$HOPPING CENTRES
Loc0fios To Serve You
CLINTON GODERICH
MITCHELL
Complete Line of Spring and Summer Fashions for
MEN WOMEN BOYS GIRLS
strop ttie stone
dnost coRuekint to uou
PG. 10. VILLAGE SQUIRE/MAY 1978