The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

ERI le nN { EE i -., oy If only these walls could talk." Yes, indeed, if only the walls of Lynde House could talk. What stories they might tell. Lynde House, a massive eight room structure built in 1812 and us- ed variously over the last 175 years as a private home for the Lynde family, a boarding house duplex and later a museum £or the Town of Whitby, is right now sitting on a new basement and foundation at Cullen (;ardens, Durham Region's most popular tourist spot. The house is bare right now, not a stick of furniture in sight, the original wall-paper, the moldings around the doors, windows and fireplaces have been stripped off. there are workmen's tools and lad: ders in the main halls. Lynde House is in the middle of a $250,000 renovation, which when complete some time next spring will restore this famous house to the splendor it enjoyed in the 1850's when it sat just west of Whitby on Highway 2, the main thoroughfare between Toronto and Kingston. Owen Hatchey is the restoration project manager, and he's very ex- cited about the plans for Lynde House at Cullen Gardens, plans that will turn the house into a museum, complete with period furniture and artifacts, special sound effects to re- create life as it was in the 1850s, and even animated figures to depict the characters who lived within the walls some 135 years ago. "The museum," says Mr. Hat- chey proudly, "will be the finest of its kind. It will be educational, en- juyable and fun" for the expected 200,000 annually people who will pay a visit there once the renovations have been complete. It's amazing to stand in the gut- ted hallway and see the massive timbers used in construction in 1812, the original brick in the eight fireplaces (one in each room) the pale blue milk paint still visible on the doors, the 22 inch pine planks that are the walls in the upstairs bedroom, even bits and pieces of the original wall covering, with the hand-painted design. ~ Lynde House was built on the north side of Highway 2 (at Lynde Creek) by Jabez Lynde, an American who owned substantial tracts of land in the area and also fathered eight children, hence the need for such a large and im- pressive home. The house is described as New England federal style, and at the time it was constructed it was the finest house between York and Kingston. The design is perfectly symetrical: a large centre hall and four rooms on the main floor, a similar hall and four rooms on the second floor. Each room has its own fireplace. Jabez Lynde raised his large family there, but by the turn of the century, the house left the family when one of his daughters turned it over to a church, which in turn sold it. In 1939, the house was converted to a duplex. By 1971, it became part of a development property and like ly was headed for demolition. The Whitby Historical Society operated it as a museum until 1986 before Len Cullen of Cullen Gardens agreed to take the house from the Town of Whitby and move it to his tourist site on Taunton Road, just west of Highway 12. The renovation and restoration of this historic house began in September and Mr. Hatchey says the official opening of Lynde House as a museum is scheduled for June 25, next year. Sybil Sterling is a direct descen- dant of the original owner Jabez Lynde, and she is assisting with the restoration project in an advisory capacity. - Obviously, she is delighted that the house built by her ancestor is not going under the demolition ham- mer, and she has issued an appeal to anyone in the area who may have furniture or household items from the 1850's in the Empire style. The Museum would like to display them (on loan) such things as fur- niture, kitchen and table items, lamps, paintings, tools, artifacts, candle-sticks and so on. Anyone who - may want to loan a piece can get more information by contacting ~ Mrs. Stirling at 576-3876. One fascinating item that turned up during the restoration work so far is an old shoe, small, black, with numerous eyelets. It was found behind some insulation in the attic near a ladder which likely led to a widow's walk. Is it a shoe that old Jabez Lynde himself might have worn at one time? It's hard to say. But the shoe will be kept and certainly go on display when the museum opens. Also, a tea-spoon, with hall-mark and believed to be stirling, was found during the renovations. Sybil Stirling in front of one of the eight fireplaces in Lynde House, one for each room. The wood mantel will be restored in fine detail. Lynde House is believed to be the third oldest structure in the Town of Whitby, thus it enjoys historical importance. PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, November 24, 1987 -- 4 Landmark undergoes major renovations In 1814, when Briush troops were retreating in the face of American attack on Yorks, they spent a week there en route to Kingston resting pee es RIE Project renovation manager Owen Hachey and Museum rep Sybil Stirling on the front steps of Lynde House at Cullen Gardens, the house, % Mons ee --- - La I Owen Hachey shows the width of the pine planks (22 inches) used in one of the walls of the Sa (See story) Is this a shoe worn by Lynde House builder Jabez Lynde? Maybe. The shoe was discovered by renovators working in the at- tic of the 175 year old house. built in 1812 is now undergoing a $250,000. renovation to open next summer as a museum. and treating the wounded. They al: walked off with the silverware. Indeed, as Mr. Hatchey stated, "if only these walls could talk." of, ARES Linda Brunton of Port Perry graduated from Shaw College in Toronto. The graduation ceremonies were held November 14 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Linda graduated with honours in Word Processing (secretarial). EE ET TN mT mmr _mmr Tr --------e,