—by Matt Golec

Quechee, VT, 8/31/23

The Barbie wore garters, which delighted Vermont Toy Museum founder Gary Neil.

Neil was carefully unwrapping a collection of vintage Barbie dolls and accessories that were being donated by Nancy, who had driven several hours to reach the Quechee Gorge Village shopping center where the 23-year-old museum is located.

“There are treasures inside and out,” Neil said as he and Nancy (who didn’t want her last name used) revealed doll furniture Nancy got as a child from the FAO Schwarz toy store, a miniature pull-out couch that still worked, and doll clothing made by her grandmother.

“I was a very good girl,” Nancy said. “I was good with my toys.”

Now she was downsizing. Nancy could have sold her vintage Barbies, especially with the recent movie’s popularity, but she wanted her toys to be seen and valued. After an online search, she found Neil and his museum.

But Nancy’s Barbie dolls won’t spend much time in Vermont. Neil is transferring his vast toy collection to a new owner, who will be opening the Florida Toy Museum in Sarasota, Florida. The Vermont Toy Museum will start packing up at the end of September and be gone for good by mid-October.

“Seeing a toy museum continue is a godsend,” Neil said. Like Nancy with her Barbies, Neil wanted his collection to remain open to the public instead of selling it off to private collectors (Neil is giving the new owner all the donated collections from the museum, but selling the items into which he put his own money). “And the next owner will add to it, have another perspective, and learn from his or her customers.”

Gary Neil, founder of the Vermont Toy Museum in Quechee, laughs in front of a display case of toy ray guns. Neil has an affection for space-themed toys.

In 1988, Neil moved to Vermont from California, where he’d worked in the tech industry. He loved the area for its skiing and golf, and he purchased the Quechee Gorge Village property.

Back then, it was just an antique mall and a small country store, but Neil regularly added attractions such as the flea market, festivals, a train ride and carousel. More stores, including a diner and distillery, moved in over the years.

“So my goal was to be a destination, and that's what the property did,” Neil said, who called it “a life’s work.”

Neil didn’t have a lot of toys growing up, but later he enjoyed collecting whimsical, battery-operated or wind-up mechanical toys. He started displaying them in the country store and in the antique mall, but a sprinkler malfunction made him consider moving his growing collection to a safer, dedicated space.

Neil and his family worked together to organize his toys into displays, and the Vermont Toy Museum was born. The museum’s motto, “I had one of those!”, came from visitors as they reacted to seeing toys from their childhoods.

Gary Neil examines a donation of vintage Barbies and doll furniture from Nancy, who got them as a child. Nancy (who didn’t want her last name used) was happy that her toys would continue in a museum instead of being sold to private collectors.

“The toy museum I always thought was just going to be sort of a fun, nice attraction, but I kept adding to it, and then I began receiving donations,” Neil said. “And as I added to it, I realized how important it was to the people who were visiting.”

Neil estimates there are more than 10,000 toys in the museum and back stock, though with trading cards and tiny Cracker Jack toys, that number is a bit hard to pin down. Regardless, visitors to the museum are greeted with display cases filled with toys organized by type and by time periods.