Sir John Johnson House

Photos by Alan L Brown - June, 2009

Plaque Location

The United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
The Township of South Glengarry
In Williamstown, on the banks of the Raison River
on Road 19 just south of Road 17 over the bridge
N 45 08.768 W 74 34.839

Plaque Text

One of the oldest buildings standing in Ontario, the original five-bay structure at the centre of this house was built between 1784 and 1792. It was once part of a mill site developed by Sir John Johnson to encourage Loyalists to settle along the St. Lawrence River after the American Revolution. The original log house, constructed in the French-Canadian manner, was enlarged to the west after 1813 and to the east with a large Gothic Revival wing in the 1860s. This house provides an excellent record of vernacular building in early Canada.

Related Ontario plaque pages
Sir John Johnson's Mills
United Empire Loyalists

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Posted February 23, 2011
This unit of the national park system is unusual in that it's operated as a national historic site and a local library branch, occupying the east (Gothic) addition. It also houses the Glengarry archives, and a collection of genealogical records. As Parks Canada sites go, this one suffers from a surprisingly humble interpretive display inside. The outside panels, to the right of this plaque and partly visible in the photo, are more helpful. Staff will let you climb up a few stairs to see (but not enter) a pre-restoration upper room. -Wayne

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