"Museum on Wheels" - car #15089 in Sloman Park, Clinton

picture courtesy of the Clinton BIA

Summer Tradition

 Last year, my life partner Glenys and I, started a new close to home road trip tradition.   We drove our hybrid Ford C-Max up the Ottawa River past Pembroke, over to North Bay, Sudbury, Espanola, and Manitoulin Island, and, by Chi Cheemaun ferry, to Tobermory and the Bruce Peninsula, along the way dropping in friends’ homes for a visit and catchup conversations.

The experience made us want to continue the pattern.   So now we have a tradition.   This year we visited the “West Coast” – a term easily evoking our former home in British Columbia, but now – new to us – applied to Ontario's 100-km  shores of Lake Huron. Its inviting beaches are just the most obvious attraction to this part of the province, but there is more.  (visit:  www.ontarioswestcoast.ca )

What a pleasure!  We again knocked on the doors of friends and family in this region – by itself, their hospitality was enough to make the tour enjoyable and worthwhile.   But there were other welcome reasons to make this trip memorable. 

We marveled at the roads – well-maintained compared to too many other Ontario highways and not very busy!  Pleasant drives alongside “oceans” of soya beans, alfalfa, and especially corn “taller than an elephant’s eye“ – spectacularly inspiring crops. 

We were glad for the farming folk in the region who this year are harvesting bumper crops.  Huge milking “parlours” told us dairy is big here.  We learned that farmers in verdant Huron Country produce more agricultural products than all the Maritime provinces combined! 

The various towns and cities we visited radiated pride of home and heritage, signs of purposeful settler toil, and prosperous enterprises. We saw some places where low incomes and social deprivation are evident – but the overall impression is that this is an area where the economy is in good shape and there is room for fair and robust living.

Here are three memorable vignettes from our tour. 

Blyth

We bought tickets to the Blyth Festival’s theatrical production of James Reaney’s “The Donnelly's: A Trilogy.”   Since 1999, the Donnelly family saga has been told in the town of Blyth alongside other stage productions.   Normally this production is an outdoor event at the Harvest Stage in the fairgrounds.  Rain forecasts changed the venue to the town’s Memorial Hall where we saw only part two of the trilogy.  

If you’ve read anything about the Lucan, Ontario Donnelly family of the 19th century's second half, you will expect to witness small town fierce competition, fear, envy, anger, hatred, violence, and murder on stage.  It’s all there, but so also is suffering, grief, fierce love, and family loyalty.  The play is a mixture of human reality inviting all present, according to artistic director Gil Garratt, “to try to understand a little deeper, why we are here.”  (visit:   https://blythfestival.com/ )

Clinton

In the town of Clinton, we had our second memorable visit. The name Sloman meant nothing to us, but at the School on Wheels Museum in Sloman Park we were introduced to Cela and Fred Sloman, Canadian heroes.

For 39 years they taught in one of the “School on Wheels” routes.  The rail-based school system was a project of the Ontario government and both CN and CP railways.  Railway car #15089 now serving as a museum in the park was the Sloman's second wagon that for 25 years was both home for their seven-member!  family and classroom for the children along their particular route.

On September 20, 1926, the Slomans inaugurated their first train car as “school” at Nandair, a siding eight miles north of Capreol, on the 150-mile CN line to Foleyet. Their monthly trip, one of seven such routes, had four weeklong stops- repeated from September to June.   One Ontario Northland, two CP and three other CN rail lines carried out similar educational outreach into sparsely populated parts of northern Ontario.

Children, many related to loggers, railway workers, and others who lived in the bush, were welcomed, taught, nurtured, nourished, and given “homework” for next month’s visit of the travelling classroom.  Evening programs welcomed adults – for adult literacy, movies, board games,  crafts and cooking lessons, and just plain friendly conversation.

The museum car witnesses dramatically and poignantly to the human thirst for education and the commitment on the part of some to provide learning opportunities, especially in under-resourced areas.  The Slomans retired in 1964. The rail school program ended in 1967.   Fred died in 1973.  For their commitment Cela Sloman was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1984. 

 For more on this inspiring story find a copy of the “School on Wheels – Reaching and Teaching the Isolated Children of the North” booklet by Karl and Mary Schuessler. (published by CNR Original School on Wheels #15089, Clinton ON. 1986. ISBN 0-9731129-0-5) [ visit  schoolonwheels@centralhuron.com, or view the CBC TV Drama’s 1985 fictional account, “And Miles to Go” starring Gordon Pinsent, though this account “hardly represented the type of men [known] as school car teachers!”)

Comfort and Joy

Our third “find” in the region was the Benmiller Inn and Spa, “nestled in idyllic rolling hills between the tranquil banks of Sharpe’s Creek and the Maitland River.”

The Inn includes several buildings of an old mill.   It has a history – like so many other mill structures set on Ontario creeks and rivers.  Its natural setting invites hikers, relaxers, and observers – to just enjoy being there. A great pool and hot-tub plus spa add to the enjoyment of the place.

The Inn is unpretentious but has 51 comfortable rooms – in our case, spacious and overlooking the creek - at reasonable cost. The Ivey dining room is a fine place to eat – we enjoyed the breakfast – elegantly presented, high quality, and tasty! 

This overnight visit was a great way to end our little sojourn.   (For more information:  visit, www.benmiller.ca, or phone 1 800 265 1711.   Address: 81175 Benmiller Line, Goderich ON N7A 3Y1.)

In one short week, we experienced some of life’s treasures right here in Ontario – natural beauty, earth’s boundless gifts, an “undiscovered” part of Turtle Island, the welcoming love of family and friends, comfortable accommodations, and opportunity to reflect away from the routines of home.