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Hazeldean Road - Only a shadow of its heritage past John Curry john.curry@metroland.com
The stone Hartin house, built in 1871, houses a spa.
The house had 18 windows and featured a massive stone fireplace in the right hand room. Following Robert Grant’s death in the Carleton County in 1870, his wife and six children moved into Ottawa to live for the next ten years but then returned to the farm in 1880, with the house rebuilt including a summer kitchen brick extension on the rear. The farm continued to be farmed by the Grant family until 1940 when the farm was taken over by John S. Hall who raised Hereford cattle there. The Hall estate sold the property in 1988. The house became vacant at this time and after four years of vandalism, the stone house was demolished in Sept. 1992. While not a stone house, the next home that used to be to the east of the site of this Grant stone house is also a Grant house with a significant heritage. Built in 1885, this was the home farm of Robert Henry Grant, one of the sons of Robert Grant who died in the Carleton County Fire of 1870. Indeed, Robert H. Grant not only lost his father in the 1870 fire but he was also an active participant. Then ten years old, he carried his one year old baby brother Jim, wrapped in a coat of his father’s, from the burning stone home across the road to the home of James Butler where the Grant family spent the night. Robert H. Grant, who was active in local municipal politics, ran for the United Farmers of Ontario party in the 1919 provincial election and was elected, as was the party.
ally formed a virtual tunnel for the lane, with the stone house visible through this tunnel of greenery. Charlie Hartin moved to Ottawa in 1908 and the farm and stone house went through a number of owners. In the 1960’s, it was owned by Miss Mary Blackburn who raised Hereford cattle. She sold the house and property in the 1980’s with the land being purchased for development as a small business park. The name Cedarow Court given to the street running off Hazeldean Road servicing this business park comes from the cedar hedges which formerly lined the laneway leading to the stone Hartin house. The Hartin house was initially re-purposed as a restaurant and now houses the Winds of Change spa. The Hartin property had been purchased by the Hartin family from Robert Grant, the See STONE BUILDING, page 7 adjacent landowner to the east. And it is the Robert Grant house that is the next Hazeldean Road heritage building that will be discussed. Robert Grant, one of the initial pioneer settlers along this section of Hazeldean Road, also died in the Carleton County Fire of 1870, perishing in his stone home that was gutted as the fire roared through the property. It was in 1832 that his Georgian style stone house was built, well back from what is now the Hazeldean Road and quite near Poole Creek which runs through the property. The house featured a centre hall plan with large rooms on both sides of the first floor. The house was 40 feet wide by 28 feet deep. The walls of the home, made of stone, were 26 The Robert Grant stone house, built in 1832, was demolished in 1992. inches thick. R0013619958_1224
The red Bradley Craig barn and farmhouse on Hazeldean Road in Stittsville is receiving a lot of attention these days as a proposal has been made to relocate the barn to Saunders Farm at Munster and the heritage community has reacted by demanding that the barn remain where it is and be re-purposed. This debate about the red barn, called by some a landmark of the area, is yet another situation where the heritage nature of this stretch of Hazeldean Road is being threatened. Indeed, what was once perhaps one of the most historic and heritage filled sections of road has now been reduced to only a shadow of its former self as it has become not only a four lane thoroughfare but also a road lined on its north side with shopping areas, with more to come as the Fernbank lands on the south side of the road reach development stage. This stretch of Hazeldean Road from the Carp River west to the Sweetnam Drive intersection area has seen over the years a host of heritage homes and buildings, the majority of which are now gone from the scene. Landowners along this portion of Hazeldean Road gained prominence not only because of the road’s importance from 1833 onwards as a more direct route between Bells Corners and the way to the Ottawa Valley and its lumber camps but also because the road passed through some of the best agricultural land to be found in the area. It is no wonder that the former Goulbourn township council fought for decades in the latter part of the 20th century to keep the land in its agricultural state. This was not only because of a desire to retain an open space buffer zone between the burgeoning Kanata to the east and the village of Stittsville but also because the land was for the most part fertile and lush. Attempts to improve the drainage provided by the sluggish Carp River in the early part of the 20th century were tied in with related efforts to improve the drainage of these lands so that they could be even more productive and support the more intensive farm-
ing that was becoming normal. Where you have good land you get good farms and that is what this section of Hazeldean Road generated. This meant farm houses and buildings reflective of these successful farms. Hence this section of the Hazeldean Road saw a line up of structures that with the passage of time became heritage gems. A couple have been retained and been re-purposed. The Bradley farm house remains and should be re-purposed. Others have gone from the scene. And the debate continues with regard to the Bradley Craig red barn. Let’s start on the north side of this stretch of Hazeldean Road, just about at Fringewood Village North, and head east toward the Carp River, stopping to examine some of the heritage buildings, past and present, one of which has been saved while others have been lost. The Hartin house, a stone building built in the Ontario vernacular style featuring a single gable roof with a central peak in the façade, was built in 1871, the year after the Carleton County fire swept through the property. Now housing the Winds of Change Spa, Hartin house is across the Hazeldean Road from the well-known Cabotto’s Restaurant which is another of the Hazeldean Road’s historic buildings. David Hartin and his wife Sarah Malcomson raised seven children in a small log house and associated outbuildings near what is now the Hazeldean Road on what is now the site of the stone Hartin house. The log house and outbuildings were all destroyed in the Carleton County Fire in Aug. 1870, with the fire also claiming the life of David Hartin’s grandmother, Mrs. Patrick Hartin, who died near Poole Creek clutching a treasured clock which she had brought with her from Ireland. Following the Carleton County Fire, David Hartin built the stone house now known as Hartin house. It was situated a little ways back from the road. However, just a year later, in 1872, he deeded it to his eldest son Charlie and moved to a farm near Twin Elm. It was Charlie Hartin who planted cedar hedges on both sides of the lane running into the stone house. These cedars eventu-
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