Innisfil Gothic

We've been very fortunate in central Ontario to have had Winter take a vacation until almost mid-January. With the first permanent snow on its way in, I took the opportunity to make a brief forray to a location in Innisfil I had my eye on before the exploration 'lean season' set in.

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This beautiful gem is in plain view of heedless commuters, just west of the busy Highway 400 in Innisfil, south of Barrie. I suspect that before the highway was constructed in 1952, this house had road access to this paved precursor.

Some items among the detritus of personal effects left inside the house suggest that this may have, at one point in time, been a livestock farm, most likely a milk operation. Contrary to its working rural heritage, the front door presents to us with a shadow of its stately past.

Much of the structure is threatening to collapse into the basement. Sensing this danger, the stairs, which should have been here in the main hallway, took flight.

There is a saying that 'A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top'. With the very unsecure boarding at this old dug well, I will speculate that any person falling down here would see the inside of an emergency ward.

Speaking of wells, I will further speculate that neither a dry well, crop pestilence, or diseased livestock drove the family from the farm but the matron's deplorable taste for frightening wallpaper.

Perhaps given her singular tastes, is what gave cause for the gentleman-farmer to heavily imbibe as evidenced by the poliferation of glass bottles of every shape and volume scattered throughout the location.

The area's early farmers, by necessity, had to be fairly independent. To this end, these rural folk had to fabricate or mend a good deal. As 'Red Green' often says, "If the women don't find you hansome, they should at least find you handy". From the numerous tools found on location here, I will assume that the man of the house was rather grotesque.

The area settlers used this early version of Windows which required no electicity.

Remember kids, Crack kills . . . just like a structurally unsound barn may.

From the look of this cast iron frying pan found underneath a bed mattress, things got quite hot in the bedroom.

I will leave off this post with some sage advice - A falling and depressed real estate market may result in a housing crash.



Happy & Safe Exploring !