Location: 124 Ernest Way, Bathurst
Legal Description: PLAN 27M70 LOT 9
Description
A traditional sugar shack reconstructed in 2021, located at 124 Ernest Way, in the village of Glen Tay, Ontario (Tayside Farm, Tay Valley Township).
Heritage Value
For approximately half a century, the Miller family of Tayside Farm produced maple syrup from a 30-acre bush on the south side of the Tay River as a sideline to their award-winning dairy operations.
Following the First World War, George Miller (1886–1961) allowed the Town of Perth to send unemployed workers to cut trees from the northeast corner of his farm for firewood. By the late 1940s, after several years managing the regrowth, his son Ernest Miller (1917–97) decided the maple trees were ready to tap. That first spring he started with 16 trees, and with the help of his wife Evelyn, they boiled up several gallons of syrup in the farmhouse summer kitchen. The following year, they expanded their efforts and collected sap from Ernest’s uncle Lloyd Ferrier’s bush, immediately to the south, and also made use of his evaporator. After Lloyd Ferrier sold his farm, Ernest bought his own evaporator and equipment and built a sugar shack on this location. By the 1960s, he was tapping approximately 1,500 trees.
Ernest Miller was the fourth of five generations to farm Tayside Farm and was a prominent figure in what is now Tay Valley Township. In 2003, he was posthumously inaugurated to the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame in recognition for 60 years of dedicated service in numerous local, regional, and provincial organizations representing young people, livestock, crops, co-operatives, genealogy, and his church.
Since settlement days, maple syrup has been an important by-product for most Lanark County farms, whether it was produced for their own use or as an item to sell. With more than 200 producers, it is still an important part of the region’s culture; Lanark County promotes itself as the Maple Syrup Capital of Ontario. This reconstructed sugar shack is typical of what smaller producers have traditionally erected in which to boil sap.
Character Defining Elements
After falling into near ruin, the sugar shack was reconstructed in 2021 by current owners Shelley and Gilbert Rossignol, based on photos of the original, built by Ernest Miller, c. 1950.
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12½’ X 15½’ (3.81 m X 4.72 m)
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Gambrel roof, covered in tin sheeting
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Constructed of locally milled cedar boards (repurposed at the time of construction)
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6-pane wood-framed windows (repurposed from another location)
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Plank man door on side
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Plank double doors at end
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Tin-clad chimney
References
Lanark County Tourism. “Flavour Matters: What Makes Lanark County Syrup Taste So Good.” www.lanarkcountytourism.com
Miller, J. R. Ernest. Diane Miller Duncan, editor. Tayside Memories—The Story of a Lanark County Lad. http://diane-duncan.com, 2018.
Stafford Wilson, Arlene. “Maple Trailblazers: Founding Families of Lanark County’s Maple Legacy.” www.arlenestaffordwilson.wordpress.com