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TRAVEL The Globe and Mail, Saturday, April 27, 1991 "02* '59! 'WO GREAT GETAWAYS / Worldwide women '5 organization has roots in Stoney Creek farmhouse Museum a leg BY MARTIN STUART-HARLE Special to The Globe and Mail F you were born in the country there is a good chance your mother belonged to the local I Women's Institute branch at one time or another. lfshe is currently a membernshe would be among about nine million women worldwide who belong to the WI or affiliated organ- izations. It all started in Ontario 94 years ago and the Erland Lee Museum. in Stoney Creek is one of the legacies. t was a spirited s eech at the Ontario AgriculturalpCollege in Guelph by a Hamilton woman Mrs. Adelaide Hoodless, which sowed the seeds of what would become the worldWide women's organization g/lrs. Hoodless's speech made an im; ressronona u '- " Erland Lee. p blic spirited farmer, Mrs. Hoodless spoke of the need for a_women's organization in which farming Wives could meet in a sort of ideas and skills exchange aimed at community-building with the emphaSis_on family and women's contributions. Lee was so impressed h: invned Mrs. Hoodless to address tS e Ladies Night audience at the altlleet Farmers' Institute, near Hamilton. An inspired Lee and his Wife Janet set about travelling the Township of Saltfieet for the next week. The idea was to encourage \Svgmen trfiatfiegd a formal meeting at urre s a , t 19, 1897. oney Creek on Feb. Erland and Janet Lee were well suited to the conce t s awned b Mrs. Hoodless. Both wgre socially spirited -- he was a successful ' farmer producing fancy dairyrgih'gi from pure Jersey cattle stock in gheitilor:i to maple syrup and fruit. he] eda been a. teacher and had forplh SE! up a kindergarten system min : ity of Hamilton before re- in 1 8g89rom teaching to marry Erland . Born in 1862, Janet was two v years older than her husband, who had also been a teacher secret and member of the Farmers" mgr?! tute for 19 years, and SaltfleetTown- ship's clerk f ceived a wfigfim. At 21, he had re. fromtheA cate in agriculture . . ri mum of (intggéf're and Arts ASSO' It was at that Feb 19 m ' _ . eeti grogds first Women's Institutnegwlzi: dlgnnizfed. Janet carefully penned a assisth "63 star"; ""s"'""°" . , en itli'iith and Major F. M. Eggi-pfntb' e doouments and walnut dininen 300m table on which they weg-- rafted are to be found at the in].3 seum. Mrs. E. D. Smith would b: ., k "x come 'he first president and Janet one 0mm. first directors. To 3V0"! Elitism and exclusion 0f oorel' W0Inen from the mem- bershva anet suggested an annual affords"? membership fee of 25 cents. Ha f? century later the tradi- tion 0f mak'ng membership afforda- ble for 5 remains intact The WI has always attracted women from a spectrum.of Income levels and mem- bers comm"? to be active in helping to organlze and contribute to almost every '9 event from annual feteS and [3'55 '0 Village concerts and children SParties. The 5 "ms remain in agricul- tural 9" munities where it was born. in rmfnfirio, the organization remains ally based --- although there Wasp ans to extend branches into Cine 'i Varseas this has already hopperne such countries as Brit- am. With a3, emPhasis on effective homem" rep' °V§r the years the WI gained 3m» "tatipn as a "jam and Jerusfile in rgilnlzation, since most branches -ta§mall communities al- most "'6' ch" 3' rub shoulders with "invmrch and members are usually 113 raved in church func- tions. iring however may be a little unfaa, c lhat the WI's constitu- tion almsi n realil'lg a non-sectarian figafigfi Hi "gob welcomes Jews, us * - or Other p6 $201.1. persons of any new _ aInsa Vehicle aimed at \ § Museum Is Imam] in Erland Lee house wine!) was purchased by Women's Institute in 1 enhancing the traditional family unit and improving skills of the home- maker and farming wife through networking shared information. The home of the Women's Insti- tute had inauspicious beginnings. James Lee was a Loyalist with .a British army background. Hephis wife Hannah, and family arrived in Saltfleet Township from Maryland in 1792. He travelled with some fur- niture and plants which still survive. James built a log cabin from avail- able pine which formed the back- bone of the house which was later added to by five generations of the Lee family. James died accidentally from a blow to the head when an axe blade flew 011' its handle during the raising of Saltfieet's first frame house. Converted by successive Lee gen- erations into a frame dwelling by the .time Erland was born as a fourth- generation Lee on May 3. 1864,.and now surrounded by mature pines. the Erland Lee home today appears as an elegant frame house with Gothic overtones and SllS about 50 metres from the edge of the escarp- ment overlooking Hamilton, Bur- lington, Stoney Creek and Lake ntano. V oThe Women's Institutes offiCially purchased the Lee home in 1972 and it has a shrine-like Significance. From time to time, meetings are still held in the promty which contains generations of possessrons. One acy of Women's Institute . m . 972. (MARTIN STUART-HARM?) item such is the still-servicable seven-foot-high china cupboard built by James after he arrived. The constitutional document which binds the WI together is on view. Janet's careful calligraphyq's remarkable and the arrow-straight lines fiow neatly across the unlined pages , Next to the Erland Lee Museum is its two-storey Drive House which has a collection of early farm and shop tools. A hatch to the second floor allowed the horsedrawn sled to be hoisted to the second floor in spring and the buggy to belowered. Check the Drive House for the Christie Biscuit Jar Display which runs until May 5. Some exhibits are ceramic, others glass or porcelain and date from approximately 1830 to I905. Included are some stunning Wedgwoods. _ These days, WI activities are not confined to domesticity. Tradition- ally close to the land, the institutes are aware of global concerns. For information about environmental concerns call the Federated Wom- en's Institutes of Ontario, (519) 767- 3510. There are picnic tables in the museum's grounds at the rear of the house and on a clear day the view from the escarpment is impresswe. The museum is open on weekdays from 10 am. to 4 pm. and on Sun- day afternoons from 1.5 pm. Admission is free. _