Village Squire, 1979-05, Page 14building for guests. Down the hill from the main buildings there
was a mound of debris from the excavation of the basement for
the big house. A groundskeeper during an earlier period has
painstakingly gone about covering the mound with topsoil hauled
to the site from elsewhere on the property with a wheel barrow.
One of the priests seeing the mound came up with an idea. He
built a scale model of the mound and using his plan planted
spruce trees around the edge of the mound to represent the
rosary. In the centre of the mound a chapel was built.
Today the chapel, called the Shrine, provides what must be a
unique facility for a guest house. During the summer months
worship services are still conducted there under Father Patrick
Moore, one of the priests who lived at the seminary and who,
under an agreement at the time of the sale of the property to the
new owners, retains a separate apartment in the main house for
his own use during the summer months.
The main house in the seminary days was the centre of the
activities of the seminary. The large double livingroom became a
chapel with provision for two altars. The south wing which had
once housed the Solarium became a library, recreation area and
music room on the main floor and an apartment was built
upstairs for the housemother and housefather whose duty it was
to teach the novices to become self sufficient on the land and in
the home.
The decline in the number of young men entering the
priesthood led to the fazing out of the seminary. At about the
same time a London -area group became interested in the idea of
community living. They were, Don McArthur recalls, mostly
members of the same Baptist church and may have been
influenced by a young, unorthodox minister. The group held
regular meetings and went on outings together and the idea, first
just a talking point, took more and more shape.
One of the couples in the group was Catholic and at one of the
discussions about the possibility of setting up a community
mentioned they knew a priest who was living in a similar
community and he came and talked with them about community
living and told about the availability of the old seminary at St.
Marys. In about January or February of 1972, Don recalls, 14
couples came up to St. Marys to look the place over. The group
met again at the building a couple of weeks later and discussed
who was willing to take the big step to move in to the buildings
and live as a community. In the final decision just four families
and several singles were willing to make the move.
It was quite a decision to make at the time. Communes were
fairly plentiful and had received something of a bad name with
middle class society. But these people were middle class. Most
owned their own homes. Jane and Don had lived in the same
place for 40 years. Most grew up in small town settings. Families
and friends were a little shocked.
It was perhaps, Don recalls, hardest on the children. They had
their own lives elsewhere and didn't really want to move into this
new lifestyle. While the adults still had contacts in their old
world through their jobs which most of them kept, the children
had to move into an entirely new world. Later once they had
grown accustomed to the new life, many of the children didn't
want to go when their families eventually left the community.
The Westover Park set up was excellent for the kind of
experiment the couples wanted to try. There was enough room
for everyone to have his own room and for each family to have a
living room. The only rules were that all families had to eat
together in the main building.
At first, Don remembers, the group was open to anyone who
wanted to join but they soon realized that some people just didn't
fit in with the kind of lifestyle the community necessitated.
Choosing members for such a community was a little like
choosing a partner in a marriage he says, only multiplied four or
five times.
The experiment worked, Don says in that members of the
community got a lot of stimulation from the group, a lot of new
ideas and new ways of looking at things. It was quite a change
from the normal pattern of life, he recalls.
It was a valuable experience for the children, he says, for them
(MARSHALLS
"C57 mnaVS
150- 152 OuU- ST -
The Grand Central Hotel built in
18-I.;. was .for decades a welcom-
ing place to spend the night.
Today it is a group of three
connecting shops. II'hat was once
the lane for horses & buggies to
reach the stable at the back is now
a charming CARD & CANDLE
SHOP. The original bar is now the
LADIES WEAR with its handcraft
section. Browse on into the GIFT
SHOP, once the dining room.
where till use has been made of
- ;'- the charm of this old building.
• \Ian}' of the original antiques are
used to display imports from
around the u•orld.
fl1fLRSHIq.LL'S
ST. fflRYS
"WHERE THE UNUSUAL IS USUAL"
GIFT SHOP LADIES WEAR CARD SHOP
150 QUEEN ST.
"DO COME VISIT US SOON"
284-3070
12 Village Squire. Mav 1979