OLD FAMILY HERITAGE HOMES WITH LOTS OF MEMORIES FOR ME

A watercolor rendering (by me) of my 140-year-old family home on Sydenham Street in Dresden. Note the original front door key imbedded in the mat of the picture frame.

Old homes fascinate me. I mean real old homes.

If only old homes could talk, what ghostly stories they could tell!

Furthermore there is nothing like an old home you once lived in to bring back memories -- happy, sad and in between. Lives once lived. A place where dreams were formulated. A comforting shelter from an at times harsh outside world.

I was literally raised in two old heritage homes in Dresden, ON. One was handed down to us (my mom and dad) by my grandparents Wesley and Louise Wright and the other a few blocks away owned by a very close and dearly-loved aunt, Hattie Sharpe.

"The Wright home" on Sydenham Street poses a bit of a mystery because of conflicting information. I was always led to believe that the red brick structure (one of the oldest in Dresden) was built by my grandfather in the late 1870s but there is another theory that it may have been built by William Wright (no relation), one of the town's founding fathers, before Wes and his second wife Annie moved into it. Complicating matters even further is the fact that Annie, a very young widow, was first married to another Wright who I have yet to definitively identify in any of my rather extensive family research.

Designated Heritage home in Dresden,
formerly owned by my aunt and uncle
Harold and Hattie Sharpe

Sufficient is this aspect of the home's history that I am determined to get to the bottom of it once and for all, hopefully with a visit to the Chatham-Kent Land Registry Office this spring. In retrospect, I should have closed the information gap before I sold the property in 1996 after the death of my mother Grace; even going so far as to possibly having it declared as a "heritage" holding. The matter has bothered me ever since.

No such mystery, however, with my Aunt Hattie's house at 396 Hughes Street, literally my second home when growing up (see attached photo) in the 1940's and '50's.  Reputedly and remarkably, this house is the most travelled in Dresden and the oldest on Hughes Street.  It was originally constructed on nearby Metcalfe Street, moved to St. George Street in 1870 and positioned at its present location in 1900. The white frame structure was originally constructed for Martha Webster, widow of George Webster, who latter married Dr. T.R. McInnes. As it happened, McInnes became close friends with famed black settler Josiah Henson and the relationship inspired him to write a poem called "Hard Times Come Again No More". He also wrote a number of other pieces and became a nationally respected writer.

One-year-old me sitting on the front porch railing of the Sharpe
home on Hughes Street in Dresden, Note the steadying hand.

It is understood that the doctor used half of the house for his office and the other half for a residence. The four-bedroom, one bath home remained divided during the three decades the Sharpes lived in it, the one half being rented to the Harvey Baverstock family.

Harold and Hattie Sharpe lived previously on a farm on the banks of the Sydenham River (eventually purchased by Fred Steeper) and bought the Hughes Street property in 1930. Harold, co-owner of a hardware business, passed away suddenly in 1936, leaving Hattie alone to raise three children Jack, Jim and Norma, all becoming prominent members of the community. 

The Georgian style residence has a number of features distinctive to Dresden homes. The transom over the front door and sidelights visible in the accompanying photo (behhind little Dickie) are good examples.

There are approximately 72 designated properties in the Chatham-Kent Municipal Heritage Register -- 17 in the historic Town of Dresden.

They say that home is where you hang your hat, but for me it is where a part of my heart remains -- with all those old familiar sounds, smells, surroundings, memories -- and yes, ghosts that refuse to talk to me. Never to return, because life is like that.