Paul Holland Knowlton’s Home
In 1815, Vermont-born entrepreneur Paul Holland Knowlton purchased a 316-acre piece of land from his relative, Ezekiel Knowlton. The land was in an area known then as the Township of Brome. After farming for years in Stukely, where his family had first settled in 1796, Paul made his way to what is now to Brome Lake and settled around the lake.
That is where the future founder of the village of Knowlton built his first home. Upon settling in the area, he cleared the land for farming and built a 20 by 30 foot log cabin. He also established a store and distillery on the property.
When the cabin was built, there were no roads around the lake and he accessed his residence by boat. It is also assumed that he built his log cabin from materials that were in close vicinity considering there was no city center nearby and there were no roads, making it difficult to access and transport building materials.
Paul lived in his first home up until 1834 before moving closer to Knowlton near a large stream. That is when he started to establish the town of Knowlton, then known as Coldbrooke, by purchasing water rights.
Upon leaving his first home, the log cabin was occupied by another prominent figure in the Eastern Townships known as Christopher Dunkin. He was a Member of Parliament for Brome and a member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Brome.
In 1921, the original property of Knowlton’s founder became the Knowlton Golf Course. The caretaker of the golf course occupied the log cabin that Paul built before it was decided that they no longer had use for it. Requests were made to demolish the building in 2010 and 2012, but the Town rejected both of the requests.
History lovers and those who understood the significance of this home were not bound to let that happen and they made their feelings to the Town very clear with numerous petitions and letters.
For a few years, the fate of the Paul Holland Home was left up in the air and various meetings were held between the Town and the Knowlton Golf Course.
The Knowlton Golf Course offered to pay $20,000 towards having the western part of the log cabin moved from their grounds and the town agreed as long as someone came forward with a project for this building and a plan for its funding by 2015. If not, they were going to demolish the building.
On September 26, 2014, the BCHS had a meeting with its board of directors and they voted in favour of moving the Paul Holland Knowlton Home from its location on the golf course to their museum grounds by October.
The Brome County Historical Society called on the community to help raise the necessary funds to have the log cabin moved to their site and to help restore the building.
By August 15, 2015, the log cabin was restored thanks to the support of the community and numerous volunteers and because of this support, it was given the chance to celebrate its 200th anniversary.
The log cabin now holds exhibitions that are dedicated to Paul and the early settlers that contributed to the founding of this beautiful village. There are also exhibits that are dedicated to the Abenaki and to the restoration of the log cabin.
As the original home of the founder of Knowlton, as well as one of the oldest log buildings in the Eastern Townships and one of the oldest homes still standing, the historical value of the log cabin is immeasurable.
If you would like to visit the home for yourself, it is located at 130 Rue Lakeside, Knowlton on the grounds of the Brome County Historical Society.