Several years ago, I visited the farm location of my great grandparents David & Susan McMackon in Sunnidale Township, Simcoe County. They owned this property from 1913 until David died in 1922. It consisted of bush and cleared crop land and the Nottawasaga River ran through it. Access between the buildings was a problem every spring due to the river flooding its banks. The property is now owned by the Nottawasaga Conservation Authority.
During my visit, although the house location was not visible, the barn foundation was still standing. It consisted of concrete walls with many granite and limestone rocks embedded in it that you typically saw in barn foundations. I managed to wrestle a fist-sized granite rock away from the foundation and brought it home. I made a six-inch square wooden base and epoxied the rock to it, then added an old photo of the barn and a newer one of the barn foundation and glued them to the base.
A couple of years later, I visited the former farm location of another great-grandparent’s farm, also located in Sunnidale Township. David and Sarah McKever lived on this farm during the 1870s and it too had a river running through it, but this time it was the Mad River. Every spring, it also flooded and my grandmother told me that they had to wear rubber boots to go between the house and the barn. One hundred years later, a great grandson owned this farm and I visited it and photographed the buildings. It has since been sold to the Nottawasaga Conservation Authority.
On my most recent trip, although the buildings had been demolished, I knew where the barn used to be, and found a limestone rock that I imagined was part of that barn foundation. It came home with me and I made another wooden base, glued the rock to it and added a photo of the buildings.
These may not be the usual family artifacts but they are unique, and they are tangible artifacts of a bygone generation and their properties.
