Photo by Mike Miller
Photographer, Mike Miller, in collaboration with the Milton Historical Society, came by The Stonehouse and took a photo of the original part of the home and created this beautiful animation of the family home then and now!
Although the antique shop building is only 25 years old, the main part of the stone house dates back to about 1885. The original family was the Easterbrooks.
The original settlers in this area spent their first years clearing the land, hauling timber and grain to Lake Ontario and living in wooden frame homes Once there was some financial security, the farmer would hire stone masons to construct a stone home.
The masons would use a combination of field stone and quarried lime stone. The walls were 16″ thick and the interior was finished with lath and plaster. The “back 25 feet of the house was a wood structure that would act as the summer kitchen.
When purchased in 1974 by Jim and Dorothy Singleton, the farm house had fallen into disrepair. In its heyday, the house had been kept in magnificent condition. Originally, everyone worked on the farm for 5 1/2 days a week and the 1/2 day a week was devoted to home maintenance.
But, by 1974, the old cedar shake roof was leaking. The 60 amp service was inadequate. There was no insulation. Water was still being carried in by bucket from the well and the ‘outhouse was an essential structure. It took Jim two years of personal labour to make the house liveable.
Although some modernization did occur, Jim kept the original lighting rods on the roof peak. He also reproduced the original gingerbread pattern using the last remaining six feet of what were still hanging in 1974 as his template.
In 1979, the back 30 feet was added on as a new home for Jim and Dorothy’s son, Paul, and his family. The board and batten design was chosen to keep the newer part as close to the original as possible. In 1991, Dorothy Singleton received an award for the preservation of an historical home.
