KAWARTHA LAKES-After Sheila Boyd died, Orval McLean auctioned off the contents of the house and the sale “lasted four days. When I went down, there were four people sitting there, with telephones. One for Berlin, one for Paris, one for New York, one for London, England, and they were all taking orders on those paintings. It was just ridiculous the prices that they went for. The Boyds in the years as lumber kings used to travel through Europe and come home with a lot of stuff. They had kept every doggone thing that they ever saw, there were newspapers there, clothes from the women there from years back.”
After Sheila died, the Big House sat empty, and was abused by trespassers even as village residents campaigned to save it. “The kids got into it. And we found mattresses in there, and beer bottles and syringes and all that kind of stuff. I happened to be on the council at the time and I looked after property in the town. I was told by the reeve to see that the house was demolished. And of course I got phone calls, the phone rang off the hook. Harry, what are you going to do with the house?—Well, you want it? You can buy it?—No. The house was still intact and it was offered to the town at one time for $1 and the town wouldn’t take it. It was going to cost millions of dollars to fix it up and make something useful out of it.” It caught fire October 2, 1994—suspected arson—and the remains were demolished the next spring. “I saved a little piece of the gate and I gave it to the museum.”
This story is part of our partnership with Maryboro Lodge, The Fenelon Falls Museum and was written by Glenn Walker.
If you want to make a donation to the museum, you can e-transfer to: [email protected] or mail a cheque to :
Maryboro Lodge Museum
Box 179
50 Oak Street
Fenelon Falls, ON
K0M 1N0
Support Kawartha 411 News
We’re asking readers, like you, to make a contribution in support of Kawartha 411's independent journalism.
At Kawartha 411 we depend on the generosity of Canadians like you.
Independent media in Canada is more important than ever. If you’re able, please make a donation to Kawartha 411 today. Thank you so much.
