Friday, August 06, 1999
Industrialist's Victorian home is Indiana attraction
BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
AURORA, Ind. — The doors of Hillforest mansion and museum are open to all who visit this Ohio River town.
Those who wonder what lies behind its fresh yellow paint, grand front stairs and big bay windows can simply step inside and see the world of late-19th century industrialist Thomas Gaff and his family.
On Saturday, women and girls will nibble a few sweets and learn about the beauty secrets of the Victorian age. Beginning at 10 a.m., those with advance reservations will sit in an historically decorated room and learn the language of the fan and the dressing of a proper lady.
Dodie Baker, 82, a founding member of the Hillforest Historical Foundation Inc., remembers when the mansion's large doors were not open to the public.
“Always, it was my dream to go into the house to see it,” she said.
Mrs. Baker and her husband, town doctor Leslie Baker, who died July 8 and is being remembered with many donations to the foundation, loved the look of the grand old home, she said.
Designed by architect Isaiah Rogers, who built Cincinnati's Burnet House hotel, Hillforest was declared a National Historic Landmark in October 1992.
Used in the 1940s and '50s as apartments and a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, the home has undergone a massive renovation. The exterior was repainted last month. Hillforest is filled with antique furniture, rugs and artifacts, about one-third of which belonged to the Gaff family.
“This was their dream house,” said Hillforest executive director Sue Small, who proudly shows off its “wood carpeting” — a floor intricately designed with light and dark strips of wood — and faux-panel murals.
But the house needs a new metal-sheet roof of more than 3,000 square feet, a costly project its board of directors hopes to begin next year. And they would someday like to restore its 10-acre grounds.
“Right now (that's) our biggest challenge, beyond the daily dollars and need for operating funds,” Ms. Small said.
Open to tours, special events and private parties from April through December, Hillforest draws about 5,000 visitors each year. About 80 percent come from the Tristate, the rest from further afield, Ms. Small said.
It benefits from grant mon ey that trickles down from the two riverboat casinos operating nearby: Argosy in Lawrenceburg and Grand Victoria in Rising Sun. Those funds have paid for new brochures and promotions.
But the riverboats have not brought a wealth of new visitors. Most people coming to the area to gamble do just that and leave, Mrs. Baker said.
“I'm probably one of the best cheerleaders for Hillforest,” she said, urging anyone who will listen to stop in for a look around. “This, to me, has always been a fun project to do.”
Mrs. Baker researched the Gaff family genealogy and is in contact with some of the family's heirs. She can relate, off the top of her head, their significant comings and goings.
Like the nearly 40 volunteer docents who lead visitors through Hillforest 1-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, she speaks knowledgeably of the Gaffs' success as steamboat owners, founders of a local brewery and distillery and as captains of industry.
“We've done a great deal of research. We've had wonderful volunteers and we pride ourselves on being as historically accurate as possible,” Mrs. Baker said, beaming at the Hillforest museum of today.
“Of course, there are times we got discouraged ... we're seeing some progress made. It's wonderful.”
headIF YOU GO
What: A day of Victorian beauty
When: 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 7
Where: Hillforest mansion museum, Fifth and Main streets, Aurora, Ind.
Cost: $4 for members; $5 non-members. Reservations required and may be made at (812) 926-0087. The museum is open for tours from 1-5 p.m. every Tuesday through Sunday.
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