…thanks to Norm from Norm 2.0 for hosting Thursday Doors

Last weekend my husband and I took a drive to Niagara Falls to meet up with our daughter and granddaughter. It was a cold and grey day, not the nicest for taking pictures of the Falls. When we arrived at our daughter’s hotel room we decided to get in the car and drive along the Niagara Parkway towards Niagara on the Lake.

We stopped at the Old Winery Restaurant and enjoyed a very nice lunch. Winnie enjoyed her bread and some of her mommy’s soup and her own macaroni and cheese.

After lunch we decided to drive around and take in some of the sights from the car. We were hoping that Winnie would nap and luckily she did. My husband grew up in the area and he decided to take a stroll with the car down memory lane. We headed towards St. Catharines, where he was born and he pointed out to our daughter the first  place he lived in as a young child before moving to Niagara Falls. Not too far away was Rodman Hall which is now an art gallery.

The Thomas Rodman Merritt House was built over 150 years ago on a beautiful hillside property and is the perfect venue for special events, parties and weddings. The mansion features stained glass windows, 11 Italian marble fireplaces, patterned inlaid hardwood floors and ornate plaster mouldings. Today it is part of the University of Brock and hosts the visual arts students from the Honours Studio course.

The Rodman Hall Art Centre features the work of artists from Niagara, Ontario, Canada and the world. It houses a permanent collection of over 1000 objects, including paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints and drawings. While I was there they were featuring a special show called A Sublime Vernacular: The Landscape Paintings of Levine Flexhaug. I could also hear the sounds of workshops going on down the hall from the entrance. Throughout the year the hall hosts a variety of studio programs for children and adults, art camps and thematic family programs.

I would love to go back in the summer when I could enjoy the gardens and the interesting sculptures that are scattered throughout the property.