Wilder Barn Restoration: Part 1

Text and photos by Martha Wilder (arranged and edited by Jim Campbell)

This farm was settled around 1845 according to the records that we have.  The existing farm house was built in about 1865 and extensively renovated in 1997 by the previous owner to us.  We bought the property (ha—almost said bought the farm!) in 2021 after looking for a couple of years.  We have just under 100 acres and part of the property overlooks the Trent River.

I have looked at the property records and the original land grant was made in 1826 to an Alexander McLean.  In 1830 it was transferred to Archibald and then in 1860 to Samuel Scott.  It stayed in the Scott family until the late 1960s and since then there have been five owners, ourselves included.  According to a member of the Scott family, just recently deceased, he told me that the property was farmed throughout their ownership — largely as a dairy farm.

As a dairy farm, the ‘lower’ barn still has the stanchions as well as the manure track that snakes throughout the lower level.  We were told that the barn was actually three barns — you can see the roof inside the barn.

Then I think the “south” addition was added, with stone foundation.  The heifer barn to the east also seems to be an addition, but also stone foundation, so likely same general timeframe. There is no cornerstone date that we could find, so I’m really going by the dates that the Scott family occupied the farm — as they were indeed actively farming.

When we bought the property, the house was in impeccable condition, but we knew we’d have to make a decision about the barn.  A good windstorm and Mother Nature would have probably taken her back within a couple of years.  

My husband and I knew that we couldn’t let that happen, so we set a budget, blew the budget, and …

To be continued ….

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