By Jeff Tribe

There may be no better residence for a fifth-generation horse logger than an 1850s-era log cabin.“I couldn’t be happier,” said Art Shannon, whose unique career has been featured in documentary movies including Workhorse, a Canadian film directed by Cliff Caines, released in 2019. “I can’t think of a better place to live.”
Shannon’s goal always was to live in a log home in the middle of the bush, a vision not entirely shared by wife Kym Snarr. The retired professor, environmental anthropologist and organic inspector did embrace their traditional, simpler lifestyle, farming organically just down the road from their Grey County location, west of Swinton Park.
But there were limits.
“Sometimes a couple has to get along,” Shannon smiled.
The cabin represents matrimonial compromise, lodged on a level 1.5-acre property shaded by mature maples and an additional 20 species of trees with space for growing their own food. There is a mancave in the upper floor of the small barn and the cabin is within walking distance from Shannon’s deer and turkey hunting stands. It’s also along a paved road in an area with deep colonial family roots, a heritage that drew them here in the first place.         Additionally, it presented a path for Snarr to get Shannon out of the bush and retire, rather than essentially dying in the traces alongside his beloved Belgians and Percherons.
Having honed his appetite for cabin living every time he passed by it, Shannon had a chat with the owner when it came up for sale. In the vein of “be careful what you wish for”, the sale was concluded in under a minute, although with the caveat that the former owner’s attempt to bring it into the 21st century had proven to be “too much work.”
“And it was,” laughed Shannon.
Snarr believes remains of a previous cabin, her own research and publications on Black pioneer history from the region, the fact the existing structure was erected quickly, along with its geographical location, provide clues to the property’s background. Oral history indicates Black soldiers fighting for the British crown in The War of 1812 were promised land for their services, eventually settling in the area, although without deed. Despite significantly improving their properties, they were essentially squatters in a legal sense, and would ultimately be pushed out by white settlers who attained title to the land.
“These Black pioneers faded into the background in many ways, some leaving the area and others marrying into white settler families,” said Snarr.
Although serving generations of different families well, the passage of over a century-and-a-half combined with neglect meant the cabin was showing its age.
“When we bought it, there were red squirrels running through this place,” Shannon recalled.
The cabin is a 22-by-24-foot story-and-a-half structure with two upstairs bedrooms and an office featuring sloped walls. Main floor markings indicate it once hosted a small bedroom, summer kitchen and bathroom. A more modern addition features a hallway, kitchen and main floor bedroom, allowing open-concept restoration in the cabin.
Its structural logs are squared hemlock and rock elm, says Shannon, scribed or dovetailed to fit tightly into each other without pegs.
“There may even be a couple of maple logs in there for fun,” he smiled.
The first order of business was repairing the western wall and expanding its single small window. 
“These six logs were rotten,” Shannon said, placing his hand on a squared surface.
He sourced two 52-feet-long 8-by-8-inch beams from the teardown of a bank barn south of Harriston.
“It was almost sacrilege for me to cut them in half to transport them.” 
They proved wider than the original walls. To retain aesthetics, two inches was sawn out of the middle of each, external sections pegged back together.
Shannon chinked the new logs with a modern rubberized compound, also replacing the existing masonry cement fulfilling that role throughout.
“It’s soft so it moves with the logs.”
The other major issue was subfloor logs in the cabin’s western half, rotting due to their connection with the ground. Friends assisted in ripping out the logs and antique hemlock flooring, and a five-foot crawl space was hand-dug to prevent the issue reoccurring. Shannon had two 20-foot-long 8-by-8-inch cedar beams in reserve from a job years previously, anchoring them on 18-inch-wide stone walls and “big foot” pillars.
“I got it right on level,” he reported, hoping to limit a “big job” to a one-off by adding insulation, ventilation pipe, dehumidifiers and fans to keep the air moving in the newly-created space. Despite costing a financially painful $15 a foot, antique hemlock flooring was sourced and installed to match existing material as closely as possible.
“It’s new antique hemlock,” Shannon smiled.
Additional work included threaded bolts to solidify spruce beams supporting the second story, and sandblasting whitewash and removing drywall to expose the logs’ texture.
“It becomes a feature wall,” Snarr explained of a return far closer to its original mid-19th-century state. “We just said it’s its own thing.”
“Patina,” laughed Shannon.
Decorations are an eclectic mixture of old and new, original art and a flat-screen TV balanced by an antique secretary acting as storage in an upstairs bedroom, and an old-school icebox housing a selection of fine single malts representative of the couple’s shared Scottish and Irish heritage.
“There may be a bit of a divergence in our decorative taste,” he conceded, both pleased and surprised elements of his guitar collection are allowed to grace the northern wall. For the record, Shannon adds, an 1850s cabin is a great place for jam sessions with musically-inclined friends.
“It’s got great acoustics - it just works.”
The same could be said for the couple’s decision to transition from the labour-intensive world of organic farming to a uniquely-suited semi-retirement residence. It didn’t come without cost or labour. However it allows them to retain the essential nature of their mindfully chosen grounded, self-sustaining and sustainable lifestyle inside a functional and enjoyable combination of convenience and a classic log cabin. 
The couple can prepare a Mediterranean-inspired combination of spiced Eastern wild turkey, grilled vegetables and homemade rhubarb muffins and applesauce in a modern kitchen and enjoy them inside a brightened, airy structure whose hand-hewn walls were fashioned over 150 years previously.
Shannon will always miss his horses on some level, a longing compensated for through the lived experience of thoroughly enjoying his dream home. If there is a signature moment, it would be during a mid-winter blizzard as driven snow peppering the windows.
Wood does have an associated R-value calculation, says Shannon, roughly 0.71 per inch for hardwood and 1.4 for softwood. From a cold start it takes roughly four hours for the woodstove to warm their cabin’s walls, which then hold the heat. 
There are few places Shannon would rather be in the world than perhaps sharing a wee dram on their living room couch in front of a roaring fire amidst a century-and-a-half of history.
“There’s no warmer feeling you can get - it’s just really cozy.” ◊