Come for the pie, learn about history
Arabella’s Tea Room is the longest-running of its kind in Canada and the community gained a few slices of knowledge at the building during Sunday’s annual pie social.
Hundreds of people lined up to catch a taste of what the team of hardworking volunteers had in the oven — pies of all varieties — at the attraction within the Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum Heritage Village.
Museum director Stephanie Powell Baswick said the hot pastries and tea are a major draw to Port Colborne’s historical hub, but the annual event is also educational through blacksmith demonstrations, a flea market and other interactive displays and presentations.
“They’re not just coming for pie, they’re getting a lot more,” she said Powell Baswick.
A steady flow of people waited patiently to be seated in the team room throughout the entire occasion.
“It’s definitely a community favourite and people come back every year but sometimes people who want to check out the museum, maybe for the first time, will come out to an event like this,” said Powell Baswick.
Arabella’s Tea Room started serving in 1977 when a group of volunteers formed through the museum.
It was originally a small house, built in 1915, as a rental home on the Williams Estate.
Arabella Williams donated the property to the city before she died close to 70 years ago so that a library could be built there. She lived in the main house which is now the museum’s main building, adjacent to the public library.
The rental house was converted into the room, which has an Edwardian Era theme for afternoon tea.
From June to September, the tea room is open 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.