Log cabin thought to be first settler home in area moved to Tobermory museum

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The Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula and Parks Canada recently collaborated to move a historically significant 1800s-era settler’s log cabin from the Little Dunks Bay area of the Fathom Five National Marine Park to the St. Edmunds and Peninsula Museum.

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The log cabin was moved to its new poured-cement foundation at the museum property in November where it remains on steel beams until the spring when it will be lowered.

The museum is currently closed for the season, but Northern Bruce Peninsula CAO Peggy Van Mierlo- West said the cabin will offer guests of the museum another opportunity to experience early settler history in the area when it opens next year.

It will stand adjacent to Jacob’s Cabin, built in 1873, which serves as a tangible display of early pioneer life on the peninsula.

Parks Canada paid a one-time grant of $25,000 to the municipality to cover eligible expenditures and activities associated with moving the cabin. The cabin was lifted off its original site and hauled by a truck to the museum on Highway 6 near Little Cove Road, Van Mierlo-West said.

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The St. Edmunds and Peninsula Museum also received an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant to assist with the project.

The cabin is thought to be one of the oldest European settler homes built on the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula.

In municipal documents, the cabin is referred to as the Davis Cabin.

Rob Davis is the co-chair of the municipality’s museum committee and a descendant of Abraham Davis, who is thought to have built the cabin in 1870-71, though its early history is anecdotal, Davis said.

Abraham Davis, a fisherman who came to Canada from Ireland with a wife and two children, took out the very first plot of land granted in the township and later operated the lighthouse at Big Tub when it was first built, Davis said.

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“It’s considered to be the oldest structure in St. Edmunds Township,” Davis said of the cabin.

Davis said a steel roof put on by Parks Canada about five years ago to stop accumulating damage from snow load will likely be removed and replaced with a cedar shake roof to better represent the cabin’s original form.

The museum committee is also planning to rebuild a fireplace and chimney that didn’t survive the move and lay a new floor using local timbers.

“It will be restored to its original presentation, our plan is to try and give it some authenticity,” Davis said. “It will present some history of the area and maybe a location for some different displays that will also reflect early settler life here.”

Davis said there are quite a few descendants of Abraham Davis still living in the area.

“It’s very special I’ll tell you . . . it’s quite a proud moment to have it out there,” Davis said. “There’s a smaller number of us here than there once was, but we have some historical reference going forward. It opens the door to carry the history forward.”