Toronto Star

How do you decide if a building is worth preserving? In Halton Hills, near Georgetown, a log cabin built around 1869 sits in a dilapidated state on Credit Valley Conservation property. The white clapboard Fallbrook homestead was home to Scottish pioneer farmers and their descendents. The conservation authority wants it removed. A group of concerned citizens is fighting to restore it. Credit Valley Conservation wants to renaturalize the Fallbrook property. It says preserving cultural heritage – old buildings and the like – is not its responsibility under the Conservation Authorities Act, while care for the natural environment – wetlands, wildlife and water – is. This doesn't make much sense to Irene Carroll, who lived in the Fallbrook cabin as a child. Her father, from Scotland, was the farm manager and lived there until 1979. Sandy McKay sees in the modest building the history of his forbears, who owned the property until 1943. He objected to a heritage-impact assessment that found that the cabin – likely one of the earliest pioneer houses in the area – had merit for its craftsmanship and square cut logs but was of little historic value because "no significant persons or events" were associated it.