Clayt Spears taking the helm as President of Cottonwood Mansion Preservation Foundation

By Sheila Phibbs

The Haldimand Press

SELKIRK—Clayt Spears recalls how he felt every time he drove past what he described as “the huge derelict home” on Selkirk Townline in the 1960s; he would always say to his wife, “I wish someone would do something with that old house.”

That old house is what we know today as the Cottonwood Mansion Museum. The 6,000 square foot Italianate mansion was built by William Holmes Jr. between 1860 and 1870 on property inherited by his first wife, Mary Hoover. Members of the Holmes family lived in the mansion until 1903, after which time it was rented out until 1911.