Getting lost while driving sucks. Granted it sucks less when it does not happen to you and even less so when it creates a great opportunity for a short weekend road trip to a cool new place. Such was the case when Elaine was lost driving a few weeks ago and stumbled on a place called “Docville” in Newcastle, Ontario.
Docville is a Wild West Park and movie set constructed almost solely by Steve Holliday during the last 20 years. Steve has built up recreations of Saloons, a General Store, Trappers Cabin, The OK Corral, Saw Mill, Livery Stable, the Docville Hotel and of course the Sheriff’s office. Obviously, the place name is a reference to Doc Holliday and Tombstone. Docville is free to visit and they are more than welcoming to “stumble upon” visitors. On May 25th, Elaine and I got on the Harley and road out to Newcastle. We grabbed our cameras and decided to take some photos and get a tour of Docville. The fellow who came out to greet us was more than willing to show us around and was a great host. Not bad for free eh?
Elaine took some great photos with her Panasonic G3. I took my Pentax K-5, a zoom lens, the cheap Holga lens, some lensbaby optics as well as my Olympus E-P1 which was used solely for the lensbaby shots. I kind of figured a lo-fi retro look would suit this subject matter. Yeah, it’s really cliched, but I felt it looked better than a technically accurate colour “Xerox” of the scene.
For more info on Docville, check out their website and also the Inn Seekers website, which provides more information and directions.
Here are Elaine’s photos:
These are my photos:
hello Rob & Elaine
Stumbled upon your blog as I was looking for something different to take our motorcycle riding club (SCRC 298) and found the Docville site.
Your pics are excellent as I am sold in taking the group there.
a question that I have, is there any facility’s and any place for food?
I have bookmarked your blog and will keep in touch with the different places that you visit.
Bernie charbonneau
Hi Bernie,
Thanks for your comments! It’s definitely worth a ride to Docville. There’s a Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s just down the road from there if you need a quick bite. Are you affiliated with Southern Cruisers?
Thanks again for the insight Rob. Yes, I am an Officer with the 298 Newmarket chapter and I took the group there on Sunday and we where all amazed that a little of the wild west was at our doorstep. We brought picnic lunches and spent time talking with Steve (Doc) about his vision. I agree, one must visit this little known “town”. Cheers!
Hi Bernie,
Glad to see that you took the group there and you all had a great time. I finally got my first decent ride in this year on road trip to Montreal. Photos now posted.
Do you know of any decent riding groups out in Durham?
I’ve twice driven by a sign in the past two weeks announcing “Docville” and was extremely curious and decided to look it up!
I am also a photographer (which is why I was in the area the first time) and a wild west (and coincidentally Doc Holliday) aficionado; how neat to know such a place exists within my own municipality!
Nice photos. I shall be taking a road trip/photog expedition out here next weekend for sure!
Hi Rob . My name is Tom Gustar. I am doing some SEO work for Doc and I was wondering if you would be so kind as to create an actual hyperlink to htt://docvillemovieset.com in the word “Docville” in the article. It would help boost his score in the searches a bit.
This is my site http://greengenieseo.com
Hello Tom, will do! Thanks for the comment and I will have that hyperlink in for you today.
Really appreciate that. Thanks from both of us.
very interesting, I remember going too a wild west movie set in Ontario in the 70s but not sure if this is the same on
Thank you for the comments. It would be interesting to see if Docville was used for a movie set back in the seventies.