Eldon House

The Eldon House is a great historical house museum. Admission is by donation ($ 5 suggested, but pay what you will.) The house was donated to the city with most of the original belongings still in it, which is pretty rare for house museums. The tour is self guided, and you can wander about all of the rooms at your leisure. A guide greets you at the door, and gives you some background information. There are some interpretive panels as you go, but not an overwhelming amount of reading. It’s very cool to see a fully furnished historical home set up as it would have been in the early 1900s. I especially liked seeing the kitchen, as well the children’s play room (complete with creepy dolls!)
Keep an eye out for the weird hunting trophies in the house — and look for the elephant foot umbrella stand! (This is not a euphemism. It is a literal elephant foot that was turned into an umbrella stand.)
During the summer they offer afternoon tea on the patio, and they run a variety of special events, lectures, tours, and classes throughout the year. The Eldon house is definitely worth a quick visit, if you’re visiting or a local. I believe they also rent out the venue for private functions.
They don’t have their own parking lot; you’ll need to find metered parking on Ridout street or park in a nearby pay lot. I hope to come back for a special event sometime soon!
Check out their special events page here:
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