Adelaide Hunter Hoodless and the Erland Lee Home

These two historic homes are located close to one another in the general Hamilton area of Ontario and can provide a glimpse into the past, and bring to life the era in which Adelaide Hunter Hoodless and Erland and Janet Lee lived there.

In February we celebrate the birthday of Adelaide Hoodless. In the past year there was an announcement of the need to sell the Homestead due to financial concerns. Since then there has been great support forthcoming, and the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada Board has announced that it is withdrawing the move to sell this historic site. Members everywhere are delighted with this change of plans.

The Homestead is the site where Adelaide Hunter Hoodless grew up,  the youngest of twelve children, Adelaide having been born after the passing of her father. She lived there with her mother and older siblings until she met and married John Hoodless. The Homestead has been refurbished and returned, as much as possible, to the furnishings and decor of the time when Mrs. Hoodless lived there. Many donations from numerous Women's Institute branches and districts across Canada, plus revenues from visitors to the site have gone into maintaining and upgrading the home over the 50 or more years the Women's Institutes have owned the Homestead. With the support of other interested people this part of our history will continue to live on and to promote the Women's Institutes.

Since the acquisition of the Homestead, the Women's Institutes of Ontario purchased (in 1972) and maintained the home of Erland and Janet Lee, who played a central role in the founding of the Women's Institutes. Both the Home and the gardens have been preserved. The dining room table on which Janet Lee wrote the first Women's Institute Constitution still stands in its original location. Indeed, the Erland Lee  home contains artifacts and furniture dating from 1790 to the 1930's.

The Erland Lee (Museum) Home will mark it's 50th anniversary in 2022, and has been designated  as a National Historic Site of Canada. The Federated Women's Institutes of Ontario Provincial office operates from an 1860 addition to the Home.

So if any of our readers are planning a trip to Ontario in 2022, perhaps the inclusion of a visit to these two historic sites would add to your travel plans. For directions to these sites, and hours of operation, please access the websites of the Adelaide Hoodless Homestead and the Erland Lee (Museum) Home.

Congratulations to the many members who have supported these two historic homes, both as volunteers there, or through monetary donations to assist with the various upgrades and refurbishments which have been made.

Yours For Home and Country,

 Ruth Fenner, Provincial Historian, British Columbia Women's Institute