Heritage House in Smiths Falls

Last June when we stayed in Smiths Falls, Ontario we ran out of time to enjoy every part of the charming town. We made plans to return in the fall. Snow arrived before we had a chance to visit, making it feel like fall, though it was Remembrance Day.

After dinner we saw the Northern Lights. The next morning we toured The Heritage House Museum, a community historic home.

The plan had been to visit a couple of weeks earlier when the museum was decorated as a haunted house. We arrived between seasons. Staff members were undecorating. Rooms were still sealed. They were not even charging admission, instead barely asking for a donation. They were shocked when I offered to pay the full price of $10 CAD.

The Heritage House was built in 1861 by Joshua Bates. Mr. Bates was a visionary. He envisioned the canal and the railroad both bringing many people to their factory town, so he built the house looking the same from the road as from the railroad -- in other words, there was no front nor back of the house.

The door was just as fancy on both sides. The windows just as nice. Even the attached barn had decent windows. Mr. Bates believed in extreme symmetry. He wanted everything just right. At least from the outside.

The house is listed in the book The Top 170 Unique Places in Ontario because it has one of the few two-storey indoor outhouses. It took me a couple of minutes to wrap those words around until they made sense. The outhouses were not directly on top of each other, so the stuff from upstairs did not land in the outhouse downstairs. The downstairs one was a two seater -- with a big and little hole as if a child would sit next to an adult. Makes me appreciate how we did potty training without a two-seater.

Mr. Bates lived in the home for the last six months of his life. He died destitute in 1965, two years before Canada became a country. His wife and four children tried to find new places to live (marriage for those of the right age) before word got out they were penniless.

Today the museum is a hands-on place. With very
few exceptions you are encouraged to sit in uncomfortable chairs, open drawers, touch things. Of great interest to me in the study is a switchboard that used to belong in the town's hotel, and an apothecary case. I had fun playing with both.

Upstairs is a room dedicated to the factory history of the town. A display case with Hershey memorabilia. A picture of the button factory employees. Some farm equipment from Frost & Wood. Coca Cola and Pepsi bottles. Factories were big industries in Smiths Falls. Most of the 9,500 people's lives would have been involved in the factories.

 

The other open rooms upstairs were dedicated to an art exhibit. This was the 46th year for the art exhibit. The art exhibit has been taking place longer than the Heritage House has been open to the public. 

The upstairs hallway walls are dedicated to pictures of the people who lived in this house. The last owners were not proud of the fact they lived there as the house was inhabited by squatters, but owned by someone else.

The staff took time away from returning the home to its non-haunted look to show us around and tell us stories. It was the epitome of how I felt the entire time in Smiths Falls, everyone was easy to talk to with bright smiles and enthusiasm. Something that feels missing in the States these days.