Why I care so much about historic buildings

I am standing in front of Easton Manor on my 5th birthday, 1956.

     The first property I really loved was my grandfather's farm, located in a tiny village near Jasper, Ontario.

 Easton Manor, also known as "The Farm" was my Shangri La, an earthly paradise---a 15 room mansion filled with Victorian furniture. The Farm included 100 acres of land, with apple orchards, corn fields,a quarry, several barns, gardens...Then, in 1963 The Farm was sold, and the furniture was auctioned off in a drunken frenzy on the front yard of the estate.

Tara, the plantation that Scarlett O'Hara loved, was ransacked by the Yankees; while The Farm was taken by relatives. My family and I were unceremoniously evicted from the property by a woman named Mrs. Hall, who told my dignified grandmother, my  mother and me to "Get off my property." My family and I ended up in "The Maple Leaf Motel" on Highway 15 in Smiths Falls, then we lived (existed) in a second floor apartment in Smiths Falls.

A September 14, 1968 Ottawa Citizen article about Easton Manor.

On the outside looking in-Mom and sister Nancy(1990).

My grandmother used to tell me stories about the Manor during The Great Depression, how she gave money, food and jobs to men who showed up at the door; in later years, Nanny thought that the singer Boxcar Willie was destitute, and she wanted to send him money.

My childhood ended in 1963. Up until the farm was sold, I had a blissful childhood---picking apples and raspberries, feeding the cows and horses, checking out the quarries and outbuildings,running, jumping and playing on the land...

A 1990 pilgrimage to Easton Manor.

Mom later compared us to characters in plays by Tennessee Williams, especially Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire". Like Blanche DuBois, we depended on the kindness of strangers, or people we barely knew:

Diary - August 24, 1966 - Mom and I visited a woman that Mom grew up with, she is very beautiful, has long black hair and looks like Yvonne de Carlo (The Munsters) who is Canadian. She gave us clothing, especially shoes, purses and dresses.

In Smiths Falls, my refuge from the poverty, drugs, incessant rock music and crowded living conditions became the Carnegie Public Library. (Between the years 1883 and 1929, Scottish philanthropist and businessman Andrew Carnegie provided money for the construction of 2,509 libraries in North America.)

The Carnegie Public Library in Smiths Falls, Ontario---My Beacon of Light during turbulent years of darkness in Smiths Falls.

Nancy Shaw checking out Easton Manor.

Elmsley Street in Smiths Falls, Ontario - 1965. 

DIARY - August 19, 1966 - Buddy our cocker spaniel dog was poisoned with stricknine. We thought he was dead because he was stiff as a rock, but the vet was able to save him. He was given shots of adrenalin and Morphine and he is on the mend now.

August 21, 1966 - I visited Buddy at the veterinarians. Buddy's was happily eating his second can of dog food and wagging his tail.

August 22, 1966 - Buddy seemed reluctant to leave the veterinarians office. He walked a bit weakly. A big topic of conversation was about a boy who broke into the Coca Cola bottling plant then escaped right under the policemen's noses. He is currently at large in the east end of Smiths Falls.