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Bethune-Thompson House

Photos by contributors David & Kellie Clifford - March, 2009

Plaque Location

The United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
The Township of South Glengarry
In Williamstown, on Road 17
less than 1 km east of Bridge Street

Coordinates: N 45 08.633 W 74 34.505

Plaque Text

Built by Loyalist settler Peter Ferguson in 1784, the original log cabin on this site is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Ontario. The cabin walls were constructed using a French Canadian technique called poteaux sur sole where vertically placed, squared logs were held together by horizontal plates located along the top and bottom. The larger home adjoining it was built in 1804 by Reverend John Bethune (1751-1815), the first Presbyterian minister in Upper Canada. This home also incorporated a French Canadian construction technique, colombage pierroté, which used a timber frame filled with masonry rubble. The fireplace overmantle installed by Bethune is one of few remaining in the province. In 1815 David Thompson (1770-1857) acquired the house and lived here until about 1836. Thompson was an explorer and cartographer who surveyed much of what is now western Canada and mapped out the Canada-United States border. The house presents a unique architectural and historical record of early Ontario.

Another plaque at this location
Bethune-Thompson House

More
Information

More
Homes

Other Plaques in Williamstown
Duncan Cameron
The MacMillan Emigration 1802
The North West Company
St. Andrew's Church 1812
Sir John Johnson House Sir John Johnson's Mills
Williamstown Fair

More
South Glengarry Plaques

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