{"id":2555,"date":"2026-03-11T14:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T19:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.tollkeeperscottage.ca\/?page_id=2555"},"modified":"2026-03-11T14:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T19:17:08","slug":"interview-with-a-volunteer-docent","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dev.tollkeeperscottage.ca\/index.php\/interview-with-a-volunteer-docent\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with a volunteer Docent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In the photo above, our summer docent Annie Prionas is interviewed by our journalist volunteer, Den Hanagan with a few of our books ready for the upcoming Book Sale. Take a look at the interview below to find out more about how Annie describes her experience this summer at the Tollkeeper’s Cottage and see if this is the kind of thing you’d like to do.<\/em>

It was by chance that Annie Prionas stumbled across Tollkeeper\u2019s Cottage. And when she did it was love at first sight.<\/u><\/a>

So much so that in the summer of 2025 she decided to become a docent at this little piece of history where the life of a mid-1800s Toronto tollkeeper and his nine-member family is presented to visitors.

When Annie arrives at the Cottage she quickly changes into the style of dress that women in the working class wore back then \u2013 an unadorned skirt reaching to the floor, long sleeves to cover the arms, a bonnet, or “mob cap”, and an apron hanging down in front and tied at the back.

\u201cI went to a number of museums in North York where I live and then I discovered the Tollkeeper\u2019s Cottage,\u201d says Annie, a 20-year-old Ottawa University student. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a museum on my list because I had never heard of it. But when I saw they were open and wanted volunteers I was like \u2018oh yes!\u2019\u201d

At that point there was no turning back. Annie was sold, not just because she\u2019d be learning about early Toronto life and its history but because she\u2019d also be re-enacting that way of life to help Cottage visitors gain a better understanding of the strenuous \u2013 and sometimes dangerous \u2013 life of a Toronto tollkeeper.

It’s fitting that Annie likes history. Although she was born in Canada, her ancestral homeland is Greece where history is deeply imbedded in the culture. Her father is a first-generation Canadian. When she visits Greece it\u2019s important for her to reacquaint herself with her roots. \u201cI visit our original village, our original little house that my grandfather and grandmother lived in,\u201d says Annie.

\u201cMy grandmother is from the mountains but my grandfather is from the plains so we\u2019ve never really been close to the sea. I come from a long history of farming and mountain goat herders,\u201d says Annie.

The sea is just an hour away wherever you go in Greece but not everybody has a car, says Annie. \u201cGreece is a European country but it\u2019s still a little bit behind. Many of the roads are still made for a donkey and cart.\u201d

When on duty at Tollkeeper\u2019s Annie enjoys telling visitors about \u201cthe coconut.\u201d Yes, Tollkeeper\u2019s Cottage has a coconut as part of its history and it made tollkeeper John Bulman\u2019s job a little easier.

\u201cWhen the tollkeeper or other member of the family were collecting tolls from the people passing by they would have this hollow coconut on a stick they would hold up to the wagon driver,\u201d explains Annie. \u201cThe wagon driver would put his pence in and then he\u2019d be on is way. The price changed depending on who was coming through the gate \u2013 and not everybody paid,\u201d says Annie. In fact, Bulman or a family member would quickly jump out of the way if a traveller wasn\u2019t in the mood to render a few pence. \u201cI know they would just sometimes run right through the gates.\u201d says Annie. And that\u2019s where the job took on a little bit of danger. But there was no danger-pay to go with it.

Actually, there was no pay at all to go with it, says Annie. The only thing the Bulman family \u2013 mom, dad, the four daughters and three sons \u2013 got for all their hard work was the cottage to live in.

\u201cBeing a tollkeeper was not an admirable job,\u201d Annie has learned. \u201cYou didn\u2019t make much, you didn\u2019t make anything. You just had the house to live in. That\u2019s how you were compensated.\u201d

The Bulmans had a farm next to their cottage where they could grow their food. They also sold or traded milk from their cow; or the oats, barley or potatoes from their rented farm plot.

She points out to cottage visitors how modern conveniences contrast so greatly with the mere basics the Bulman family lived with.

\u201cEvery time I show them the pails of water they carried to and from Taddle Creek, every time I show them the chamber pot, every time we talk about the beds and how uncomfortable they probably were, I think it helps people realize how hard life was back then.\u201d

Annie admits she\u2019s a romantic at heart and relishes telling visitors how Mr. and Mrs. Bulman met. It\u2019s her favourite Tollkeeper\u2019s story. \u201cMrs. Bulman was from a better-off family in England and Mr. Bulman was their gardener,\u201d says Annie. \u201cThey fell in love but her family didn\u2019t approve so they sent her to Toronto to live here.\u201d

But gardener Bulman wasn\u2019t going to let 5500 kilometres and an ocean get in his way. \u201cHe followed her to Canada and they got married,\u201d says Annie.

At university Annie is working toward an Honours Bachelor of Social Science Degree in anthropology and sociology. When she returns there in September she\u2019s anxious to tell her friends about Tollkeeper\u2019s.

\u201cI\u2019m going to go on for so long about the history here because I can never stop talking about this place,\u201d she says with a smile. \u201cI\u2019m going to mostly tell them about the community here and how the volunteers work so hard to put the gift shop together, to put on events, to teach school groups that come through here.\u201d

As for her outlook on life, with history being a foundation for her thoughts, Annie expresses optimism for the future.

\u201cA lot of the time in history there have been very bad people that have come to power. But there have also been very good people,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s the only way I think we can continue forward, just focusing on our piece of history and how we can help the world get better, even if it\u2019s just through small acts.\u201d

Thank you to Annie and all our docents who do such a wonderful job volunteering to bring this piece of history to our visitors!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the photo above, our summer docent Annie Prionas is interviewed by our journalist volunteer, Den Hanagan with a few 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