Janet Cobban has been living in the 1850s for much of her adult life.
But this month Essex County’s premier pioneer woman is hanging up her bonnet, long dress and red flannel petticoat as she retires after 27 years as the curator of the John R. Park Homestead.
“I’m going to time travel. I thought I’d live in the 21st century for a while,” Cobban joked this week.
Thousands of school children would know the costumed Cobban as the one making them cookies at the kitchen fireplace or showing how pioneers made candles or maple syrup. Many kids probably thought she did live in the house built in 1842 for John and Amelia Park.
Janet Cobban, shown here in 1991, the curator of the John R. Park Homestead for the last 27 years, is retiring this month. She is shown at the Harrow, ON. location on Wed. Nov. 5, 2014. (Windsor Star files)
“I’m in a grocery store and somebody comes up to me who’s obviously only ever seen me in costume at the homestead and said ‘I didn’t know you had hair.’”
Inevitably the odd time she did leave on her pioneer garb to go home, she would have to stop for gas or her car would break down.
“There you are standing on the side of the road waiting for CAA and you’re wearing a long dress and this bonnet,” she said. “You kind of have to do a little explaining to the tow truck driver.”
A 19th century lady wouldn’t give her age so neither will Cobban who is retiring on a high note.
She recently received a distinguished career award from the Ontario Museum Association’s 2014 Awards of Excellence. Cobban, who also doubled as curator of Windsor’s Community Museum for eight years, said it’s an award for everybody in this area since she’s had support from hundreds of people involved in local history.
Kris Ives, who will be promoted to homestead curator, said Cobban raised the profile of the Essex Region Conservation Authority’s museum on County Road 50 southeast of Harrow. In 2010 the Ontario Historical Society recognized the homestead as the province’s best living history museum.
Cobban has never lived in a house of her own as long as she’s worked at the homestead and when she was alone in the house by Lake Erie in the morning it felt like she lived there. She knows the Park family, which had a shipping line, a general store and a sawmill, mostly through their letters and feels connected to them.
“I hang out with dead people all the time,” Cobban said. “I’m not talking about ghosts. I just mean that the things that they made or the things that they built or the decisions that they made that shaped the way things are now, those things are still here.”
John R. Park Homestead curator Janet Cobban, top, makes old-dashioned gingerbread cookies Dec. 21, 1991, with four-year-olds Malak Nassereddine, left, and Michael McLachlan. (Windsor Star files)
And they tell their story, a part of our rich local history. Sometimes visitors don’t see it as real, a slice of mid-19th century life from an actual family. In our virtual world where people occasionally look up from their iPhones, museums and conservation areas are becoming more meaningful, Cobban said. There’s power in real experiences.
“Kids say ‘Is that a real fire? Is that a real squirrel?’”
Cobban, who grew up in Mount Brydges and earned a history degree, thinks she would’ve made a good pioneer. She boasts she’s never set herself on fire although she’s melted a few holes in her period clothing. Full disclosure: she uses matches and not the authentic flint and steel but wet wood or wind still make starting a fire a challenge.
“On the other end you have to make a fire and not burn the things down. I have exploded the tallow pot,” she said of the animal fat used to make candles.
No one was injured. Those woolen pioneer outfits are good protection against sparks, she said, and warm when you are outside. She gets asked a lot if her pioneer fashions are hot but those big skirts do allow air to circulate underneath in the summer.
What might she miss as she steps back to the future?
The lake views: “I think I have the best office in Essex County. My office windows are 10 feet away from the shore of Lake Erie.”
Janet Cobban, the curator of the John R. Park Homestead for the last 27 years, is retiring this month. She is shown at the Harrow, ON. location on Wed. Nov. 5, 2014. (DAN JANISSE/The Windsor Star)
shill@windsorstar.com or Twitter @winstarhill
