Building The Love Shack

 

 The History of the Cottage

The Cottage was built in 1945 as a fishing hut for a family in Hamilton, Ontario.

When she was first built, the water came from a pump house located on the beach. There were lines running underground to bring the water to the cottage. Each Spring the lines would have to be cleared and the water turned on. Each Fall the water would be shut off to prevent the lines from breaking from freezing. Some years this was successful. Some years it was not.

In 1994 the old pump house was destroyed by a storm and the new water system was brought in. A Cistern and Holding tank was put in and are still used today. These 2000 gallon tanks allowed for fresh drinking water to be available and brown water to be stored, which brings us to the toilet.

The old toilet was a combination of a boat toilet and an outhouse. Under the toilet was a small holding tank that had to be pumped out often due to size, and to eliminate the smell that high heat brought from the small tank. Its advantage was not having to go outside.  The luxury of the new holding tank for the brown water reduced the frequency having of having the small tank pumped and no smells.

Along with fresh water tanks came another luxury in 1994, the inside shower. Before 1994 the shower was a bath, taken in the lake. The water was fresh and cold.  If you didn’t use Ivory Soap you could pretty much guarantee your bar of soap would sink to the bottom of the lake. With Ivory Soap, you could count on it to float on top of the water. As far as privacy goes, if you wanted that, you needed to time your bath between the times fishing boats were going out and the cottager were coming to use the beach.

Hydro came to the area in the 1930’s. It is unclear when the hydro to this cottage was actually hooked up. At our time of purchase, the panel box was the original breaker box with the screw in glass fuses. The heat that was there was electrical panel floorboard models. They were completely rusted and not in operation. It is unknown for how many years that they have not worked or when they were put in. Prior to the electrical floor panels being put in, the heat was not an option.

Most importantly, she has good bone. The cottage was solid in structure. When they built her, she was made to last the test of time. She is now 71 years old.

Original Ownership

As I mentioned earlier the cottage was built in 1945 for a family in Hamilton, Ontario. First, it was a place to fish and hunt, bought by the father and his three sons. It soon became the summer home for her children.  As the years past it became the summer home for each generation. Her children, then her grandchildren, all grew up with this cottage being part of their lives. This family had this cottage from the day she was built until she was sold to us.

The Children and grandchildren now all have cottages all around us. It has a been a steady flow of visitors for us, all coming to see what we are doing. They are excited to see what we have done and hear about the plans. And have offered friendship and help.

As each one of them hears the plans and see the progress we steadily hear. ” My mother or my grandmother would be so pleased to see this.” and ” We are so happy that you’s bought this. You are already loving this house as much as we have.”  This cottage has now become more special. And its name, The Love Shack, again has been reinforced by its history.