This 200-year-old heritage cabin is being restored in Grand Bend

The Canatara Cabin, a beautiful piece of southwestern Ontario history, has found a new home and new life at the Lambton Heritage Museum after a 200-year journey across the region.

The cabin was originally built in the 1830s near Goderich. The pioneer home was a residence for approximately 100 years before it was taken apart and shipped to Sarnia along Lake Huron in 1930. 

It was rebuilt along the shores of Lake Huron where it was enjoyed as a private summer residence until rising lake water and shoreline erosion threatened to destroy it. 

"It was right on the brink of an erosion spot along the shoreline that dropped about 15 feet," said Roger Hay, a member of the Canatara Cabin project committee whose father bought the land and cabin in the late 1960s. 

I am immediately engulfed in the sense of history that people actually lived in this place and raised a family in this place- Roger Hay

In 1972, Hay's father donated the cabin to the city of Sarnia. The building was once again disassembled and rebuilt in Sarnia's Canatara Park where it was featured for years as the centrepiece for Christmas and Easter activities.

However, maintaining the building became an increasing challenge, and it became necessary to move it once again. In 2020, The Lambton Heritage Museum agreed to take on the project, and the cabin was taken apart once more and transported just outside of Grand Bend, where it is currently being rebuilt. 

The museum raised approximately $120,000 for the project in grant funding and community fundraising.

The restoration process

The rebuild has been ongoing throughout the year. Contractors began by taking a log-by-log inventory of the building's materials to determine which sections could still be used and which sections needed to be repaired. 

Once the logs were repaired, the building was assembled in its basic structure, and the repaired roof was lifted into place. Dana Thorne, a curator with the heritage museum, said the current checklist of construction items includes: installing new windows, building a new fireplace and completing the chinking in between the logs. 

Thorne added that the museum is choosing artifacts and interpretive pieces that will highlight the history of the site. 

"It's really great to see it all coming together," she said.

A direct link to our past

For Hay, it was critical that the cabin be restored using the structure's original materials as opposed to building a replica from scratch. He said that historical buildings are precious and that he doesn't see a lot of preservation happening in Ontario anymore, resulting in a loss of heritage. 

That connection is intangible. You can't put your hands on it.- Roger Hay

He said that the building, with its original wood and 6-foot high ceilings, gives him a greater appreciation for how people of that period lived, and provides a connection to those early pioneers. 

"I am immediately engulfed in the sense of history that people actually lived in this place and raised a family in this place," he said. "That connection is intangible, you can't put your hands on it. The only way that we can appreciate the past with these structures is actually going in."

Once construction is complete, the museum plans to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony in the Spring of 2025.