Top 3 Abandoned Places In Woodstock

There are so many abandoned places in Woodstock! This is a list of the top three abandoned places in Woodstock. Browse through all abandoned places in Woodstock

1. Woodstock Studite Monastery

This property belongs to the Studite Fathers, a Ukrainian religious group. Studites work for eight hours, rest for eight hours and pray for eight hours. The Studites are one of the oldest monastic orders of the church. They have a board of directors and monastery located near Rome.

The Studites own hundreds of acres of land in Woodstock which over the years they've slowly sold off to developers.

The Woodstock monastery was operated by a monk named Reverend Evtimy Wolinski (Herbert Wolinski). Wolinski is the last membr of his order in Canada. An order dating back to AD 500.

In June of 2000, Wolinski was responsible for establishing the Woodstock Peace Lighthouse of Icons which contained more than 100 religious icons and religious paintings. Wolinski hoped to create interest in the monastery and attract tourists. By winter construction had halted on the $2.5 million project as the monastery was unable to pay the bills.

Around June of 2009, a woman named Viktoriya Abelyar was hired by the Studite Fathers to help organize a Ukranian-speaking prayer group known as the "Keepers of the Light". She volunteered to perform secretarial work and gardening at the church and in return was allowed to live on the property and was provided with food and health care.

In January of 2010 Wolinski and Abelyar began an intimate common-law relationship which resulted in the birth of a child. The church responded by forbidding Abelyar from being on the church property. The church also removed Wolinski from his duties at the monestary. While priests are allowed to marry, monks are not permitted to. Wolinski now survives through his old-age pension
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Personal notes:
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I'd been keeping a watch on this location. During my second visit in 2014 I walked around trying all the doors. I thought it was going to be with the same disappointing results until I tried one door and it opened. Adrenaline pumping, I hurried back to the car and gathered my camera gear.

New owners have since purchased the property and boarded up the windows and doors. This led frustrated youths to begin throwing rocks through the stained glass windows. Someone then kicked in a ground level window board and the church and hallways spray painted with graffiti.

2. Camp Tillingwood

Camp Tillingwood operated as a Girl Guide camp for girls between the ages of 11 and 14.

Last used in 2008

3. Oxford Regional Center

A handbook written by two Dominican friars in the year 1494 on the topic of witch-hunting said that one way to identify a witch was by the presence of seizures. Today we might recognize seizures as a sign of epilepsy. In 1494 the friar’s handbook was believed and resulted in the deaths of thousands of women wrongfully accused of being witches.

In later centuries before medical disorders were fully understood, society often confined those afflicted with disorders to institutions instead of placing them in society.

In the middle 1800’s, the Ontario Government established a series of Ontario Hospitals to care for such mentally ill and mentally challenged persons. One such Ontario Hospital (Hospital for Epileptics) was built on 100 acres of land in Gravenhurst. It’s purpose was to care for epileptic patients from across Ontario. At the time the disorder was considered to be a mental illness.

The hospital opened on April 22, 1906 and consisted of an administration building and two cottages named ‘May’ and ‘George’ respectively. During the first year of operation, the Hospital for Epileptics admitted 58 patients.

As part of patient therapy, the hospital included a farm where fruit, vegatables and grain were grown. This benefited patients in particular who also suffered from mental illness or mental impairment. Cows were added to the farm in 1919.

In 1919 the hospital was renamed Ontario Hospital and was moved to Woodstock.

By 1932, the hospital had grown to 486 patients with an accompanying staff of 120. Many staff were hired just prior to World War II and left to fight in the war. Upon their return, the war veterans were immediately hired back. The hospital also found work for spouses of those killed in the war.

During the mid 1900’s, tuberculosis was a highly infectious disease that spread easily throughout the crowded Ontario Hospitals. In 1939 the Ontario Hospital, Woodstock built a Chest Disease Division opposite the epilepsy buildings on highway 59. Here, patients could receive treatment while remaining isolated from the other patients.

In 1958 a four-storey building was constructed to expand the Chest Disease Division. By this time both divisions of the hospital totaled over 1500 patients and 860 staff members.

In 1968 the Epileptic Division was closed and patients were sent home or to other institutions. This was in response to advances in medical treatments and an understanding that epileptic patients didn’t require isolation. The division was renamed the Adult Retardation Unit and focused on the treatment of mentally challenged persons. By today’s standards such a name would surely be considered politically incorrect.

With advances in anti-tuberculosis drugs and treatments, the Chest Diseases Division closed their doors in 1972. Two years later in 1974, the responsibility for the care of the mentally ill and mentally challenged passed from the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of Community and Social Services. With this, the Ontario Hospital transitioned into the Oxford Regional Centre.

Crafts and other materials manufactured by the patients were sold in a store to the Woodstock public.

The Oxford Regional Centre had 715 mentally challenged patients who, over time, were transferred to other facilities, sent home or released. By the late 20th century there was no need to house mentally challenged people in institutions and thus the Oxford Regional Centre closed in 1996.

The buildings remained empty until 2003 when they were demolished to make way for a senior’s retirement home named Villages of Sally Creek.

In 2008 there was one last building remaining, which will probably be demolished by the time you read this. See the Google map link for location.

Sources:

• Doug Symons, (a)Village That Straddled A Swamp(a)
• Mary Evans, ‘ORC’, book in preparation (Oxford Historical Society)
• Dr. Charles Lockwood, (a)An Overview Of Medical Care At the Ontario Hospital Woodstock,(a) (Oxford Historical Society archives)
• Copysix