This weekend we brought home the family furniture (mentioned on this blog before here) that has been being lovingly restored for the past year. That’s it. We’re officially finally all moved in to our new house now. I didn’t say unpacked — just moved in. (And, true to my word, I did get some of the family history wrong in that first post. Oops.)

Many thanks to Dave MacFee and his talented crew for bringing this wood back to life. It was dark and dull when we dropped it off to you and look at it now. There are fireworks in that grain. Thanks also to Chris, Estelle & Jonathan for helping to heft the very heavy top half of this cabinet onto the very heavy bottom half. We couldn’t have done it without you guys.

To make a long story short (ish), this furniture was commissioned by Sally’s grandfather’s grandmother’s grandfather (I think I got that right — but you know my track record) who was instrumental in the building of many of the early canals in Montreal in the early 1800s. Phillips Square in downtown Montreal was named for him and the furniture was made for a large home he had built on Beaver Hall Hill.

Why I need to pay more attention…

When I was in Montreal a couple of years ago, I made a few casual remarks about the family history but didn’t really know enough to ask the right questions. I knew the house had burned down in the mid-1800s but was curious where it had stood. With new research we’ve been doing this past month to try and answer some questions about the furniture, I now know that I was nearly standing on the spot where the old house stood when I took this photo:

If I have my bearings right, the street along the right is Cote du Beaver Hall. I was right there and never knew it. And Phillips Square is probably within a three minute walk from here as well.

We’ll go back, do some family research, and properly visit these sites sometime in the near future. It’s just funny how close I was to a place I’d always wanted to see and didn’t even know it. Glad I at least took some photos.