The 19th century part of the Thomas Elgie family home at 262 Bessborough Dr. now stands as a dwelling much as it looked in the 1840s, when it is said to have been built. None of us was around then of course, and the records aren’t very good, but it appears the two storey home with a chimney on the east side and a wing to the south was what the first builder constructed. The recent work has removed an extension said to have been built in the 1970s. The picture on the right seems to be from the 1950s or 60s before the extension was built. A mediated agreement last year permitted the owner and builder, Matthew Garnet, to subdivide the property to place two new homes on Bessborough with the Elgie home sitting on a third lot. From the shape of the remaining historic home it might sit better longitudinally facing Bessborough. The changes over the years are interesting. The original had its front door under a porch on the east side. Along the way that door became a window and had another placed above it. Pioneer homes did not have many windows. There are steel beams lying on the property which will be used to move the structure but that job appears a distance off. The home has not been underpinned nor is there any foundation waiting for it yet.
