Sommerfeldt Stickley

I was passing by a place today that I thought may be abandoned. I had observed it previously but I was still not really sure. With the normal "signs" & the "for sale" sign I thought maybe I should make a quick stop to see. I debated this for a few moments & decided what the heck, I won't be out this way for a little while, so I made the u-turn & decided to go investigate.

Shortly after walking on the property, I was caught by a neighbour. About 20 mins later, the owner, who had recently sold the property, stopped by to pick up the mail and noticed me there. What shitty timing, but as I thought about it, my timing wasn't too bad. If I had arrived 15 mins earlier I could have been scaling walls or climbing on a roof or something bizarro when they found me. As it turns out, both the neighbour & owner were cordial & answered a number of questions.

The neighbour said the house was in pretty rough shape & that the property was sold & the house was now vacant. He left & I proceeded to take a number of pictures of the house. When the (past) owner arrived, he stated the home was built in 1876 & that it was on the heritage list but is not designated. He anticipates that as all the paper work is processed the barn & house will be demolished.

I didn't get the feeling he would have entertained me going inside the house, so I didn't ask. The house was locked up & I did not get a chance to look in the barn, but the neighbour was coming out of it at the time he saw me.

The 1860 map has a building on the property. That could mean the existing home is older than the present owner thinks, or that it's just a different building. Regardless, it's old. In 1860 the property belonged to Asa Henry Summerfeldt. In 1794 the Summerfeldt ancestors were among 64 settler families, originally from Germany, that settled the wilderness north of Toronto, which became Markham. By 1871 Summerfeldt had moved north with his family & was a Hotel Keeper in Nottawasaga. By the 1880 Counties Map the ownership was with John Stickley whose father John owned it prior to his death in 1875, as well as the lot across the street which he had left to another son, Joseph.

Given a little time, the opportunities with this home may open up. It seems as though it was sold very recently, (the real estate "for sale" signs are still up). With time the past owner will probably disassociate himself from the property & the neighbour didn't really seem to care much of my presence. I hope some of the more local explorers keep an eye on it & jump at any chance to get to see the interior prior to its demolition.