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Gale cottage and
log cabin beautifully preserved |
Heritage |
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Marion Mosolf stands with the fireplace in the winterized cottage
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The cottage and log cabin, built by Rev. James Gale, have been beautifully preserved and were part of the Doors Open Kincardine event on the weekend (Oct. 17-18). Marion (Gale) Mosolf was only two months old when her father started building the cabin, "Cave O' The Winds," on Lake Street, Inverhuron, in 1930-31. She slept under the stars until the roof was actually finished. The stone fireplace and chimney were hand-laid by her father while her mother mixed the mortar, passing it to him in buckets. The mantle above the hearth is made of recycled timber from an old ship. "My mother chose Inverhuron because she had come here as a child when David Pinkerton, her father, owned 150 acres of land at the end of Lake Street," recalls Marion. "This was about 1905. There was a farm there which a hired man operated. In about 1944, Mother decided that Dad should build a guesthouse on the property they owned on the other side of Lake Street, opposite the cabin. He then constructed the one-room log cabin, now 124 Victoria St." She says it wasn't long before her mother decided she liked the log cabin better so they moved there and used the original cabin for guests. A winterized addition was built on the log cabin when Marion's brother, Bill Gale, retired there. In the 1950s, their parents sold the original cabin to Marion's brother, Hugh. He and his wife, Verna, and their children Barbara (Wallis) and Bob, used it for vacations until he retired in 1991 and sold it to Marion. In 1992, Marion spent the summer and early fall winterizing the Lake Street cabin and she moved there in November. Her nephew, Jim Gale, now owns the log cabin. Jim Gale remembers that when the weather was good, his grandfather preached in the park. They had a pulpit and a small pump organ - his grandfather preached and his grandmother played. He also recalls that he and his brothers, Hugh and Bill, scratched their names into the brick on the side of the building that now houses Blackberry Tales in Tiverton. The Gale site has a fabulous lake view, as well as a twig washhouse, a bunkie, original stone patio and hand-dug well. In the 1930s, Marion's father and his three teenaged sons spent many, many hard-working hours drilling for water with an inner tube attached to a tripod made of cedar trees. A metal bit was suspended from the inner tube that had to be sharpened regularly. This bit was thrust down into the ground using the inner tube as a sort of rubber band. They hit water at about 10 feet down and went down to 12 feet to form a small reservoir. The water was then hand-pumped into the kitchen. At a later date, this well supplied water to the log cabin also. The hand-dug well was operational until the 1970s. The original pump sits on the cement well cap and is now only decorative.
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 for
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