Westfield Heritage Centre, Open-air museum in Rockton, Hamilton, Canada
Westfield Heritage Village is a heritage centre just west of Rockton, Ontario, with over 30 historic buildings on a 3.4-square-kilometre site. It is operated by the Hamilton Conservation Authority, and its buildings include a saw mill, a church, a train station and a general store.
In 1961, two Brantford high school teachers, D. Glenn Kilmer and Golden Macdonnell, founded the Westfield Pioneer Village Association and bought land near Rockton with their own money. Kilmer's wife Doreen helped manage the site, including the General Store. The village opened unofficially in June 1963 and officially in 1964. Wentworth County purchased it in 1968, and it was renamed Westfield Heritage Centre in 1990.
Westfield's name comes from its first location; the site was renamed Wentworth Heritage Village in 1981 and Westfield Heritage Centre in 1990. Doreen Kilmer, a teacher and wife of co-founder Glenn Kilmer, ran the General Store, while Golden Macdonnell built the forges from fieldstone quarried on the site.
Westfield Heritage Village sits on 3.4 square kilometres west of Rockton, so allow time to walk between the buildings. The site is operated by the Hamilton Conservation Authority; check ahead for opening days, as the village has historically opened mainly on weekends and during summer holidays.
In 2010 a TD bank grant funded groves of fruit trees and two beehives at the village; one hive was operating that May while a second was planned. The apiary program was set up to show the importance of the European honey bee to settlers and to raise awareness of Colony Collapse Disorder.
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