Hillary House re-opens to public – just in time for staycations

Behind its red-brick gothic façade, is evidence of how our community's earliest doctors dealt with local health crises, including the Spanish Flu pandemic.

And now, as the community battles another pandemic, the resilient Hillary House is adapting to our shared new normal.

Aurora's only National Historic Site and home to both the Aurora Historical Society (AHS) and the Koffler Museum of Medicine, Hillary House is once again welcoming new visitors in dramatically different and inarguably historic circumstances.

The Yonge Street landmark closed to the public at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and by the time York Region moved into Stage 2 of the Province's re-opening plan, they had their own game plan in place for the time they got the green light to open a new chapter on their storied history.

“My overarching theme was to create a plan where all are satisfied and everyone has a safe and enjoyable experience,” says AHS Curator Kathleen Vahey.

Ms. Vahey joined the AHS team earlier this year in what is undoubtedly a challenging time for community institutions. Coming to Hillary House with a Masters in Museum Studies from the University of Toronto and armed with a life-long passion for history, she quickly set to work immersing herself not only in Hillary House's collection of artefacts but in the day-to-day running of a National Historic Site.

Ms. Vahey sees the house itself as an artefact, and one which needs to be treated with a lot of tender, loving care.

As such, the AHS has set capacity limits on how many visitors can be in the building at any one time. In addition to maintaining a lower capacity, staff must wear masks while they are inside unless at their own workstations. Visitors must wear masks at all times in accordance with local bylaws.

Visitors are required to stop at sanitation stations at Hillary House's two entrances where they will be required to sanitize their hands and don a disposable mask if they do not have their own.

“We have no touch procedures in place,” says Ms. Vahey, noting that while they allow drop-in visitors during normal business hours, pre-booking a visit is encouraged. “We have had a very positive response from our visitors. It has been surprising how many people feel comfortable coming out, and that has been very comforting. I think that was my strategy going into this: we really want Hillary House to be a place for the community and visitors to feel safe coming in.

“We can't go to a lot of the places we used to be able to go into right now and I want visitors to say, ‘Okay, I need to get out of the house but I also want to go where I am going to feel safe' – and I want Hillary House to be that place and I want the staff to feel safe providing that service.”

Just a few short months ago, Hillary House was fittingly set to welcome a guest speaker on the subject of the Spanish Flu. Unfortunately, that had to be postponed due to illness but, before they could reschedule, another global health crisis hit.

As a living testament to Aurora's early medical community and the home of an impressive array of medical artefacts from across the country, the connections between Hillary House and the present situation is not lost on the curator.

“There have been doctors in this house since it was first built in the 1860s and they would have had to deal with all the outbreaks and diseases that have come through, now this is another part of Hillary House's history as the house is going through another pandemic,” says Ms. Vahey. “Hillary House is almost like a hidden treasure. A lot of people have driven past it for years and have said, ‘One day I am going to go in there' or they might not even notice the house because it is hidden by our beautiful gardens, so I think this is the perfect opportunity or people to come out, stay home, and explore their local treasures.

“Even if you have visited Hillary House once or twice, it has a 158-year history of stories to tell and one visit isn't enough. Find new stories every day and even if you have been here, there is always something new to learn, grounds to explore, and that is the best part.”

To plan your visit, head over to aurorahs.ca or 905-727-8991.

By Brock Weir