Cullen Gardens

Location: Whitby, Ontario, Canada
Address: 4015 Cochrane Street
Date: Nov 2022

   There used to be a wonderful place that could be enjoyed by young and old alike. There was a beautiful garden with extensive flower displays. For the children there was a miniature village where tiny people lived and drove trains, cars and boats around the grounds. This was Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village. Sadly, it was closed in 2005. Here are some old photos from our visits and a few ways you can still see a bit of the magic today.

  

   Cullen Gardens was created by Len Cullen who owned Weall & Cullen garden centres. If you visit what is now called Cullen Central Park you will see his statue.

    Beside Len sits a tiny house which represents the 150 miniatures that made up the village that stood here from 1980 to 2005.

    A scale model of Parkwood Estate was one of the many miniature buildings. The real Parkwood Estate is located nearby in the neighbouring town of Oshawa.

 

    This house (above) looks like it could be found just about anywhere.  

  This building was always on fire and the firefighters were battling a tiny blaze on the roof.

  The Miniature Village had a main street display with cars and businesses. The Littlest Hobo even visited this street in the episode Small Pleasures. The German Shepherd star walked right onto the main street just behind the green and grey building with pillars. He then continued down the street towards the left. You knew your tourist attraction was doing well in the 1980s if the Littlest Hobo visited.  During other episodes he also visited places such as the Toronto Zoo and Canada's Wonderland.

  The gardens were a year round attraction. In the winter a miniature Santa Claus parade travelled down the main street with floats full of Christmas cheer.

  The parade always finished off with a special float for Santa Claus himself.

 

  Another special guest arrived at this building by helicopter, while a marching band performed.

 

    The long building, possibly a hotel, sat beside a remote controlled boat pond.  Different watercraft sped around the pond.

  Surrounding the miniature houses were gardens filled with seasonal flowers. A highlight was when the tulips were in bloom.

  A small CN Rail train also did laps through the gardens, going under bridges and behind bushes only to reappear further along the tracks.

 

   The shrubbery was always cut into interesting shapes and figures.

  Flowers were arranged in the shape of giant ducks or peacocks.

 

 

  Real peacocks would do their best to compete with their floral cousins.

  As you travelled deeper into the valley there was a covered bridge that crossed a small creek. The creek was known as Lynde Creek and flowed all the way down to Lake Ontario.

  The creek and the bridge are still there today.

  In the woods you might have encountered a cougar back when Cullen Gardens was open. This cougar was a model placed there on purpose. It seems to be debated if Ontario has any cougars, or how many it once had.

  We didn't see any cougars when we visited Cullen Central Park. That doesn't mean they didn't see us.

  Another relic of the past that you can see in the current park is Patly Mills. This grindstone is from the mill which opened in 1951 and processed oatmeal and flour. Cullen Gardens Miniature Village was built right where Patly Mills used to stand.

 

  Cullen Gardens also had a farming display to show you how life once was. Unlike the miniature village, these were life sized.

  Someone had built a display of someone building a cabin. Again, a life sized model of how things used to be.

  In current day, there was a cabin at Cullen Garden Park. It is possible that the Cullen family used to stay here at some point in the past.

  At Cullen Gardens there used to be Lynde House which was set up as a museum. The Lynde House was built during the War of 1812 and moved from its original location to Cullen Gardens in 1986.  When Cullen Gardens closed, the house was moved again to nearby 900 Brock Street South in Whitby.  It still operates as a museum today.

  The last section of the Miniature Village was a mini fairground that was located away from the rest of the village. It had little moving thrill rides and even a replica of the Flyer roller coaster. The real Flyer used to operate at the Canadian National Exhibition each year.

  Just when you thought the Miniature Village was no more, it rose up again. After Cullen Gardens closed, the miniature homes were sold to the town of Oshawa and sat in storage. Eventually, the homes were purchased by Niagara Parks. Many of them can now be visited at the Floral Showhouse in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

  A robin decided to live in this lovely red building.

  Scattered around the Floral Showhouse grounds are many buildings from the Cullen Gardens. More should be arriving as they complete some restoration. We are glad that the homes are back where they belong, between beautiful floral displays. You can always visit them here for a bit of that old magic.

   Oh wait, we forgot about Cullen Barns! Here is a final look above. Sorry to report to anyone who used to enjoy the displays and flowers in this store. Formerly located at Kennedy Road and Steeles Ave East in Markham, Ontario, the barn buildings are no more.

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Map of Our World
Cullen Gardens And Miniature Village

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Post # 339

Arthur Conan Doyle Room

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  789 Yonge Street
Date:  March 2024
Website:  www.torontopubliclibrary.ca

  A little laneway behind the Toronto Reference Library has been named Sherlock Homes Walk.  This is because the Reference Library is home to one of the largest Arthur Conan Doyle collections in the world. The library has collected over 25,000 items since 1969 that are mostly works of author Arthur Conan Doyle and his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes.

    After taking a brief visit to the laneway we headed inside to check out the collection.

 

  The Arthur Conan Doyle Room is located at the top of the library on the fifth floor.  It is part of the Marilyn & Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre.

     The Arthur Conan Doyle Room is designed to resemble the study from Sherlock Holmes' London address of 221B Baker Street. There is a real 221B Baker Street in London, but obviously the fictional Sherlock never lived there. The location has been turned into a museum for fans of the stories to visit.

     The shelves in the room were filled with various books. Most of them were crime fiction like the Sherlock Holmes stories.

 

  

  The majority were written by or contain stories from Arthur Conan Doyle. Other books are exploration into Arthur Conan Doyle's career and characters. All of the books on display are available to read in the library.

 

  The room also contained non-literary works of art such as a figurine of Dr. Watson. Watson is Sherlock Holmes' friend and companion on most of his adventures. The stories of Sherlock are usually told from the point of view of Watson as the narrator.

       Professor James Moriarty also has a figurine. Moriarty is Sherlock Holmes' nemesis. In fact, it was in a battle with Moriarty that Sherlock Holmes died.

    Sherlock and Moriarty fought and both fell into the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.  There is a piece of rock retrieved from the bottom of those falls in the Arthur Conan Doyle Room.

      Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in 1887. Another famous fictional detective, Hercule Poirot would not appear until 1920.

     Sherlock Holmes is considered the world's greatest detective. Sherlock would also agree that he is the greatest.  

    To enter into the Arthur Conan Doyle room you must leave your coats and bags outside. You are able to spend as much time as you like and take photos. You can sit and read about Sherlock solving mysteries until the library closes for the day.

    On a coat rack was a Sherlock Holmes hat known as a deerstalker. This hat is never properly described in the books but was a best guess at what Sherlock would wear. It became a popular symbol of Sherlock, along with a curved pipe, as the character started to appear in drawings, movies and television shows based on Arthur Conan Doyle's novels.

     Outside of the glass enclosed study were even more books and a chess set on a round table. 

     Even the chess set was Sherlock Holmes themed. Sherlock Holmes solved crimes much like a chess player. Chess is the ultimate battle of wits and trying to figure out what the next move of your opponent will be. We recommend your next move is to the Toronto Reference Library to check out a wonderful collection presented in the most interesting way.

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Map of Our World
Toronto Reference Library

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Post # 333

Raccoons Of Toronto

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada is often referred to as the "Raccoon Capital of the World". We thought we would list some of the raccoons that we have encountered around the city.  We like the little guys, despite the fact that they tear up your garbage or scare you half to death with their screams as you walk around the side of the house at night. Here are some actual raccoons and artistic raccoon tributes that we have seen in Toronto.

Love Park

Love Park has many animal sculptures including the raccoon above.  Read More.

Emily May Rose

Artist Emily May Rose has painted her raccoons getting up to mischief on various walls around the city.  The critters above were found in Feel Good Lane.

  These groups were spotted on the wall of 1988 Davenport Road and across from Yonge Dundas Square.  We like how when the raccoons spray paint, it is usually to paint raccoons.

  These raccoons are brought to you by Guinness and located on Richmond Street West behind the Sheraton Centre.

 This driving raccoon is part of a bigger mural at the foot of University Ave.  Honk Honk!

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada

At Toronto's aquarium you will find these butterflyfish called raccoon butterflyfish in tribute to everyone's least favourite nocturnal invaders. Read More.

Santa Claus Parade

It is not an unusual sight to see raccoons walking down a Toronto street. We witnessed this group of raccoons during the annual Santa Claus Parade. Each one had a giant cookie on its arm. Read More.

Bay Christmas Windows

The Hudson Bay store on Queen Street West always has different Christmas windows. One year there were raccoons included amongst the creatures of the Enchanted Forest. Read More. 

Toronto Zoo Residents

The Toronto Zoo has a bunch of raccoons. Some live in the woods surrounding the zoo and some are permanent residents. The stump above has at least three raccoons piled up inside. The signage at the zoo informed us that the black mask around their eyes helps raccoons see better at night by reducing glare. It works in much the same way as a baseball outfielder putting black under their eyes to help them spot and catch fly balls.

A Micmac story says that the raccoon was caught stealing and as punishment had the black circles placed around his eyes to remind everyone of what he had done. This raccoon above is doing some hard time in the zoo's enclosure. If by hard time you mean sleeping all day and only waking up to be hand delivered your meals.

If you want to know what a raccoon feels like, the zoo sometimes has touch tables where you can feel animal fur. Raccoons have tiny whiskers on their toes which increases their ability to feel food in the dark.

Toronto Zoo Visitors

Other raccoons at the zoo are free to come and go as they wish. On many occassions we have had to warn people "Don't use that garbage bin, a raccoon just crawled in there". The zoo is located in the Rouge Valley so there are no shortage of wildlife visitors. These little guys were probably waiting for their mother to return with a treat from the trash.

This raccoon seemed not to mind the crowds walking around the zoo and was content to sit on a patch of grass and scratch itself.

This group of little guys chose to take a shortcut through one of the African enclosures. This can be a dangerous move. This enclosure happened to contain the harmless antelope called a Kudu and a disinterested vulture named Lloyd.

The enclosure is also home to the dreaded hornbill gang. This group of ground hornbills is intimidating as it marches around the enclosure. Raccoons are pretty fearless fighters so they may not be afraid, but no one wants to get a good pecking from these large birds.

Hay-lloween Town

  One year the Toronto Zoo had different characters made out of bales of hay. The beloved raccoon was also included.

STACKT Market

STACKT Market is made up of shipping containers. Inside are many different vendors.  The market is also known for its artwork. At the north end of the market on Bathurst Street you can find this painting of a raccoon.

Clover Hill Park

This raccoon shares Clover Hill Park with some snails, rabbits and a donkey wearing casts on its legs. Read More.

 Utility Boxes

These four utility box raccoons are from artist Jeff Blackburn. Clockwise they are a tourist raccoon with a camera at Church and Front, a toothy raccoon at the bottom of the Baldwin Steps, a trumpet holding raccoon outside of The Rex on Queen Street West.and a regular raccoon at Roncesvalles and High Park Blvd.

Another box in Scarborough can be found at Markham Rd. and Ellesmere. These raccoons are working together to reach new heights.

Daredevil Raccoon

 

Speaking of heights, this raccoon somehow managed to get itself on a ledge part-way up a building at Yonge & Eglinton. 

Porter Airlines

 

Porter Airlines is a local Toronto airline that used to operate smaller planes exclusively from Toronto Island Airport. Their mascot is a raccoon and he can be found all over the place. We believe that "orte" means scraps or possibly a small meal or snack.

His name is Mr. Porter and above he can be seen dressed as a Mountie advertising trips to Ottawa on the side of the free shuttle from Union Station to the airport.

Downsview Park

Downsview Park is home to many wild creatures, even in the winter. Rabbits, coyotes, hawks, owls, squirrels and a variety of small birds call the park home. Despite the bitter cold, this raccoon is fine just tucked against the trunk of a tree waiting for nightfall. Read More.

C.N.E.

 

In 2019 the Canadian National Exhibition had a series of painted raccoon statues. The raccoons were painted by different charity and commmunity groups. It was called Racoons Reimagined.

There is always a butter carving competition each year. This of course means a butter raccoon.

 

During a Home & Garden show on the CNE grounds there was a company selling baseball caps. This of course means a baseball cap wearing raccoon.

Royal Ontario Museum

 

 A racoon and a garbage bin spell trouble. Not to worry, this raccoon is a Royal Ontario Museum specimen and that is about as far as things are going to go. A live raccoon would easily tip that can over and spread the contents all over your front lawn with the help of a few of its friends. 

Runnymede Underpass

Just south of St. Clair Avenue West where Runnymede goes under the train tracks you will find a mural painted on both sides of the road. There are many animals n the mural including guess who?

  

Pink Kitchen

King Street West has added some roadside seating for pedestrians. As you approach Spadina Avenue there is a little pink kitchen that you can sit inside. There is also a little pink raccoon waiting for food to be prepared. Anything at all, it is not picky.

 

Little Canada

Little Canada has little scaled down models of places all across Canada. It has a Little Toronto which means it also has Little Toronto raccoons. This raccon is wearing a feather boa and a crown which means it must be the night before garbage day.

 

Holland Bloorview

Holland Bloorview is a Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. In its garden it has sculptures and artwork of little creatures that the children might enjoy. We enjoy both animals and art so this little raccoon and his friends also brought us some joy.

 

Footprints

Despite Toronto being full of raccoons, you may still have a hard time finding one. The next best thing is to find their footprints. Those tiny little toes leave a distinctive print. After it rains look for footprints in the mud.

 

In the winter look for footprints in the snow.

 

The best of all is after someone pours cement, look for little tiny footprints the following day. Just like these footprints, raccoons are a permanent part of life in Toronto.

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Map of Our World

Toronto Zoo , Raccoon On A Ledge
STACKT Market
Royal Ontario Museum , Little Canada , CNE
Feel Good Lane , Raccoon Building , Raccoons On Truck , Guinness Raccoons , Foot Of University Mural , Utility Box (Toothy Raccoon) , Utility Box (Raccoon with Trumpet) , Utility Box (Raccoon with Camera) , Utility Box (Raccoon Pile) , Utility Box (Raccoon) , Runnymede Underpass , King Street Seats (Pink Kitchen) , Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital

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Post # 331