Site Content

Location:  The Glidden Toy Museum is located next to the Whipple House Museum in Ashland village. While it faces Main Street (Route 3), it is entered from the Whipple House grounds at 14 Pleasant Street. A sign on those grounds directs visitors to the Toy Museum immediately to the right of the Whipple House.  

Hours:  The Glidden Toy Museum is open from 1 to 4 p.m. on Thursdays during July and August. Special tours are arranged by appointment by calling Sherry Norman at 603-968-7524.   

Admission:  The admission fee is $3 for adults. The museum is free for children under 12.  

The Pauline E. Glidden Toy Museum, the generous donation of its namesake, is located in one of Ashland's earliest residences, a circa 1810 cape, perhaps built by a Whitten family member and later the home of Noah Cate, the owner of the adjoining Squam Lake House, which burned in 1934. Funds for the purchase and renovation of this historic building were given by Pauline Glidden. The Museum opened to the general public on July 3, 1991. Visitors can view and enjoy more than two thousand antique toys that Mrs. Glidden collected and donated to the Museum.       

The well displayed toy collection is considered one of the best in northern New England. Items date back to the 1850 nesting blocks containing the story of “Who Killed Cock Robin” and include a wonderful doll collection with such favorites as Sunbonnet Babies, Shirley Temple and Raggedy Ann, a large collection of tin toys with many kitchen and laundry items, miniature appliances and furniture, a rare penny toy collection, Royal Bayreuth china, children's books and prints, game boards, push and riding toys, trucks and steam trains and a variety of other interesting and rare pieces. The toys are displayed in five rooms, one furnished as an old-fashioned school room.