Peterborough’s HUTCHISON HOUSE MUSEUM

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Anyone driving or walking on Brock Street between Aylmer and Rubidge streets likely will notice a distinctive stone house on the north side. This is Hutchison House Museum, owned and operated by the Peterborough Historical Society (PHS) since 1978.

The house was built by community labour so the story goes, of local limestone, as an inducement to keep one of Peterborough’s early doctors, Scottish-born John Hutchison, from moving to a bigger community where he could better support his growing family. Dr Hutchison, his wife Martha (nee Holland), and their five boys (all under the age of ten years) moved into their new home early in 1837. Six more children followed before the doctor died in 1847 during a typhus outbreak, and Martha and her remaining family moved to live with family in Toronto.

The house’s second owner was businessman James Harvey, who bought it from the doctor’s estate in 1851. The property stayed in the Harvey family when his daughter Elizabeth and her husband Peter Connal purchased it. In 1969, their descendant bequeathed the house to the PHS, who then restored its interior to how it may have looked in the Hutchison and early Harvey/Connal eras.

Today, Hutchison House Museum is open year-round, and offers guided tours by trained interpreters, teas and special heritage meals, workshops, school and public programmes, and other public events and activities for all ages. These are run by a small staff and a core of knowledgeable volunteers. The gardens are designed to reflect a local garden circa 1860s/1870s, and also are maintained by dedicated volunteers.

The museum’s busiest annual day is 1 January when it celebrates “Hogmanay”, the Scottish New Year, with music, dancing, special Scottish food and drink, and traditional ceremonies for everyone’s enjoyment. All are welcome, and it is a fun way to start off any year!

For more information about upcoming Hutchison House events, to register for a camp or programme, to arrange for rental, or to book a bus tour and tea, etc., go to the website (www.phs-hutchisonhouse.ca), email (info@hutchisonhouse.ca), or call 705-743-9710.

We hope to see you soon.

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