A visit to the Virden Pioneer Home Museum acquaints guests with the way of life of an established Victorian family in the Canadian West. James frame built the house in 1888 for his new wife, Abbie. It is located on the once “Quality Hill” and was one of the wealthiest districts in Virden, which is why you see large estates here today. Other owners of this beautiful home were Mr. J. E. Wright, Mr. I. J. Bennet, and Mr. Lyman Tapp. The house officially became a museum in 1970, which was during Manitoba’s Centennial. The museum got official recognition as a Municipal Heritage Site in 1990.
The original land included stables, buggy sheds, croquet lawns, and lawn tennis courts. Rooms of this home are the parlour, the kitchen and dining room, bedrooms upstairs, and servant quarters. The rooms represent the era with numerous period items and furniture, which gives it a homey, almost lived-in feeling. To this day, the museum houses over 11,000 artifacts!
