There was something special about this cabin that called out to Pierre Caron and Marie-Line Richard when they were hunting for a country house 10 years ago. Built in 1840 and about to be demolished, the cabin had charm and history. Pierre and Marie-Line decided to save it. They had the cabin disassembled, each piece numbered, put on a 15-wheel truck and moved across a river to their property in Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada, where it was rebuilt.
The house had begun life in St. Guillaume de Drummondville, a town “known for its cheese for poutine,” says Pierre of a popular national dish made of French fries, light brown gravy and cheese curds.
In rebuilding, the couple kept the cabin’s original footprint. They did most of the interior renovation themselves including re-plastering beams and refreshing wall plaster. The 26-by-32-foot cabin was built with Eastern white pine and red cedar logs. “You can still see the hatchet marks,” Pierre says. The floor is the original foot-wide pine planks.
New and Old
The staircase, which is made of cherry wood, had to be rebuilt since “the original was very narrow and dangerous,” Pierre says. And the roof, made of copper and wood, also is new. Marie-Line created the stained glass on the front door. To keep the cabin from feeling dark, they used a light-colored milk paint to white-wash the main level’s plank ceilings.
The cabin’s previous owner had been an antiques dealer and the couple has benefitted with a claw-foot tub, many old brass lighting fixtures and 300-year-old doors on the front and side of the house. Now that the home is up-to-date, their favorite spot is the kitchen, where they love to cook and entertain.
Although Pierre, a retired Nova Steel sales representative, and Marie-Line, a retired nurse, had originally bought the home as a getaway, they have since decided to make it their permanent residence. The house is set back in a neighborhood filled with homes built in the 1970s and 1980s. “On the one side of the house we feel like we are in the suburbs and on the other as if we’re in the country,” Pierre says.
As with anything old, improvements and upgrades are ongoing and Pierre has been researching who might have originally built the house so many years ago.
Writing a New Chapter
Canadian cabin begins a second life.
Canadian cabin begins a second life.
Story by Stacey Freed
Photos by Perry Mostrovito
There was something special about this cabin that called out to Pierre Caron and Marie-Line Richard when they were hunting for a country house 10 years ago. Built in 1840 and about to be demolished, the cabin had charm and history. Pierre and Marie-Line decided to save it. They had the cabin disassembled, each piece numbered, put on a 15-wheel truck and moved across a river to their property in Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada, where it was rebuilt.
The house had begun life in St. Guillaume de Drummondville, a town “known for its cheese for poutine,” says Pierre of a popular national dish made of French fries, light brown gravy and cheese curds.
In rebuilding, the couple kept the cabin’s original footprint. They did most of the interior renovation themselves including re-plastering beams and refreshing wall plaster. The 26-by-32-foot cabin was built with Eastern white pine and red cedar logs. “You can still see the hatchet marks,” Pierre says. The floor is the original foot-wide pine planks.
New and Old
The staircase, which is made of cherry wood, had to be rebuilt since “the original was very narrow and dangerous,” Pierre says. And the roof, made of copper and wood, also is new. Marie-Line created the stained glass on the front door. To keep the cabin from feeling dark, they used a light-colored milk paint to white-wash the main level’s plank ceilings.
The cabin’s previous owner had been an antiques dealer and the couple has benefitted with a claw-foot tub, many old brass lighting fixtures and 300-year-old doors on the front and side of the house. Now that the home is up-to-date, their favorite spot is the kitchen, where they love to cook and entertain.
Although Pierre, a retired Nova Steel sales representative, and Marie-Line, a retired nurse, had originally bought the home as a getaway, they have since decided to make it their permanent residence. The house is set back in a neighborhood filled with homes built in the 1970s and 1980s. “On the one side of the house we feel like we are in the suburbs and on the other as if we’re in the country,” Pierre says.
As with anything old, improvements and upgrades are ongoing and Pierre has been researching who might have originally built the house so many years ago.
There was something special about this cabin that called out to Pierre Caron and Marie-Line Richard when they were hunting for a country house 10 years ago. Built in 1840 and about to be demolished, the cabin had charm and history. Pierre and Marie-Line decided to save it. They had the cabin disassembled, each piece numbered, put on a 15-wheel truck and moved across a river to their property in Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada, where it was rebuilt.
The house had begun life in St. Guillaume de Drummondville, a town “known for its cheese for poutine,” says Pierre of a popular national dish made of French fries, light brown gravy and cheese curds.
In rebuilding, the couple kept the cabin’s original footprint. They did most of the interior renovation themselves including re-plastering beams and refreshing wall plaster. The 26-by-32-foot cabin was built with Eastern white pine and red cedar logs. “You can still see the hatchet marks,” Pierre says. The floor is the original foot-wide pine planks.
New and Old
The staircase, which is made of cherry wood, had to be rebuilt since “the original was very narrow and dangerous,” Pierre says. And the roof, made of copper and wood, also is new. Marie-Line created the stained glass on the front door. To keep the cabin from feeling dark, they used a light-colored milk paint to white-wash the main level’s plank ceilings.
The cabin’s previous owner had been an antiques dealer and the couple has benefitted with a claw-foot tub, many old brass lighting fixtures and 300-year-old doors on the front and side of the house. Now that the home is up-to-date, their favorite spot is the kitchen, where they love to cook and entertain.
Although Pierre, a retired Nova Steel sales representative, and Marie-Line, a retired nurse, had originally bought the home as a getaway, they have since decided to make it their permanent residence. The house is set back in a neighborhood filled with homes built in the 1970s and 1980s. “On the one side of the house we feel like we are in the suburbs and on the other as if we’re in the country,” Pierre says.
As with anything old, improvements and upgrades are ongoing and Pierre has been researching who might have originally built the house so many years ago.
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