We found this little gem on the back roads in Clarington ON. Because there’s no evidence of hydro, plumbing or a green number, as well as a little Newspaper clipping we found, we believe this house dates back to the 1800’s.
The newspaper clip Chris found was a piece of the Empire Toronto established in Toronto, Canada, in 1887. Founded by John A. Macdonald, the Prime Minister of Canada and publishing rival of George Brown of The Globe, it was the voice of the conservatives in the city. Macdonald and Brown had been political rivals in Canada West (although they had co-operated to achieve Canadian confederation). The Empire was founded when the previous conservative paper in Toronto, The Toronto Mail, declared independence of any political party in 1886.
After Macdonald’s death in 1891, the Empire merged with the The Toronto Mail to form The Mail and Empire in 1895. The Mail and Empire would in 1936 merge with Brown’s Globe to form The Globe and Mail.
There was no insulation in the house, just brick and board. Winters would have been very cold. Just like “Little House on the Prairie” there was only one main room where they possibly would have congregated for dinner after working on the farm. Off that main room there was a door that lead to a landing where there was wooden ladder type stairs that lead to the loft, or I’m assuming the sleeping quarters. They sure didn’t need a lot of space back then when they spent most their time working the land.
In the small landing we noticed some wall paper that we think could have dated back to the 1900’s…..this is speculation of course but although torn and faded I was surprised it still existed in any shape or form. Through out the house we found some interesting things that shows evidence of a few eras.
The barn was incredibly unsafe but held a little history as well. We were smart here and only viewed it from the door….thank god for a zoom lens 😉
Although this house seemed barren we did find some life there 😉 While investigating we disturbed a small family of mice in a cupboard and a skunk that was nestled in a hole under the door on the floor where we entered 😮 Chris was VERY lucky to stay out of the line of fire when the skunk sprayed. He lifted the door to find the poor creature underneath…not too sure who was more scared…him or the skunk 😮
That brings me to the end of this blog with many more to come 🙂
