Log cabin luxe

The time of year when we feel the allure of a timeworn 
Canadian cabin nestled in the snow, with toques and snowshoes lined up by the door. But if the thought of all that winter 
seems a little too Doctor Zhivago for you, take a peek inside 
these two warm and cozy 21st-century rural retreats.

Just the thought of what winter was like for the first European settlers in Quebec’s Laurentians is enough to make you shiver. But by the mid 1850s, a number of pioneers had begun to settle small hamlets in the region, so something must have been going right. And something right is just what this log cabin, one of the first homesteads in the Ste-Adèle area, is to its owner.

Built in 1860 by French immigrants, the cabin had fallen into great disrepair by the time the current owner bought it in 1971. About seven or eight years ago, he moved the cabin farther back on its parcel of 15 acres and, a couple of years later, began in earnest to meticulously restore this piece of history, mostly with his own hands.

“I have great appreciation for preserving a way of life experienced by the earliest French Canadians,” he says. That said, this self-admitted “old house addict” has ensured that no creature comforts were omitted in the restoration. An insulated attic and basement, modern heating, new windows (“We saved some of the original hardware,” he explains), and new caulking between the spruce logs have made chilling drafts a thing of the past. He even enlarged the windows to take advantage of the cabin’s sunny southern exposure. The result is a bright, cozy interior that’s a world away from the dark winter days the original settlers experienced.