A historical farmstead continues to thrive in Stirling

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Westwind Weekly

By Jonathan Guignard

Twitter: @guij26

A historic landmark in Stirling has continued to be the host of many great events in the community over the years and has been a popular place this summer.

The Michelsen Farmstead is alive and well in Stirling and has been the host to What the Junk, Music on the Veranda and Summer Day Camp along with many other activities.

The house on the property was originally built in 1902. In 1912, the house was added onto, to make seven rooms in total and little has changed since.

The homestead consists of a one and a half storey Victorian style farmhouse with a wraparound porch.

It includes a barn, granary, calving shed, coal shed, machine shed, corrals and pens, and an outhouse.

It contains landscape elements such as a dugout, cistern and filter, a storage cellar, and a garden.

The landmark is located at the corner of 2nd Ave. & 6th Street, on the west half of four blocks in the northwest corner of Stirling.

In 1995, the property was bought by the village council. Ron Bore, former president of the Historical Society and resident of Stirling for over 40 years was on council at the time when the property was purchased.

“My love of history means I wanted to invest in something that makes sure Stirling could attract visitors. Purchasing this property at the time was a great way to do that,” said Bore.

Bore was the president of the Historical Society for eight years and says they have put a lot of work into keeping the farmstead intact and to resemble its original state.

“We’ve restored it to make it represent a farmstead of about 1930 and we were able to get a lot of material and other important stuff that actually belonged to this house. So we were able to restore it and make it look like it did back when it was first built,” said Bore.

Since then, it has become a place of tourism and something that has helped put Stirling on the map.

“We get a lot of visitors from all over the world. Two years ago, we entertained a group from Reunion which is a French island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. We have also had people visit from South America and other parts of Europe,” said Bore.

The farmstead is open to visitors every Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. until September 1 and by appointment during any other time during the year.

The cost for seniors is $4, $5 for adults, $2 for youth (12-18) and free for anybody under 12 years old.

For groups of six or more, the cost is $3 a person and must be booked a week in advance.

For more information or to booking a time you can send an email to mfphss@gmail.com.