Maybe You Can Go Home Again

Saturday, November 3 was a wonderful day when my cousins Karen and Rea planned a tour of the former home of Frances and Frank Kinnaird.  Their two daughters Margaret and Marjorie and Margaret's husband Don and I met to take a stroll down memory lane and admire the farm yard and home of the current owners Trevis and Heather.  Margaret and Marjorie grew up in the farm house and us grandchildren had our own memories that were rekindled. It had been built at W1-11-27 for James and Elizabeth Lane who lived there until they left in 1920. The house was built by Ralph Rolston in 1907 and the plaster was done by Tom Edsell according to a Myrtle Lane.  The home was rented out until Grandpa Frank Kinnaird moved in after purchasing the half section in 1925.  Grandma and Grandpa raised 3 kids there and lived in it until he had a stroke in 1962 and needed to have personal care until his death in 1967. Grandma continued to live there until her death in 1974. 

It seems to have been a labour of love for Trevis and Heather to restore the home they raised their 2 boys in.  Original doors and handles as well as door and window trim and baseboards were painstakingly refinished and reused wherever possible. The room that I called the piano room at the bottom of the stairs is the master bedroom now and Aunt Marge remembered that it was the same for them during the winters when the family of 5 slept downstairs to conserve heat. She slept in a crib at the end of a bed where Margaret slept with her parents and Uncle Keith was on a couch in the living room. The wallboard around the stairs had been removed to reveal how beautifully the spindles had been restored.  The same creeeeak, creeeeak as we made our way up the stairs brought smiles and good memories all around.
Looking east out her bedroom window, Grandma used to be able to see the Lenore Hill.  We thought it was ironic that now the house sits just a few miles south and east of that familiar landmark and that she would be pleased.

The upstairs hall brought Aunt Marge backin time, using the long wall as a chalkboard and the trunk that sat below the window as a desk as she role played being a teacher.  Part way down the stairs was where her pupils, cut from the pages of Eatons catalogs, would sit as she patiently delivered their lessons.  She recalls her mom and dad being okay with her writing on the wall with chalk as it was recovered with light green muresco (plaster) every year.

Heather shared her photo album with us that chronicled the transformation of the house starting with the move to their site in the fall of 1984.  It has had many updates and modernizations over the years but the bones have remained the same.

We were also interested to find pictures of the coloured glass window and the original archway between the kitchen and living area. We posed for a picture on the way out in front of the beautifully varnished original siding that greets visitors at the door. What an incredible opportunity to take a step back in time and revisit our childhoods.  May it stand proudly for more generations of feet racing up and down those stairs!