Of Bough and Bark

Of Bough and Bark. . Dwelling Cabin , This feature represents an example of cultural transfer by emigrants to Canada from their homeland. This dwelling cabin strongly resembles the description of the cabins of the working poor in Northern Scotland and Ireland, as recorded there in the 1830s. The common elements of this and the cabins in Europe are small dimensions, set into an embankment or hillside, earth floors, no flue or chimney, the fire built on the floor. Here at Port Wallace, the roof was of boughs and bark as described by Captain William Moorsom who visited in the late 1820s. In Ireland the roofs of such cabins were described as made of the poorest thatching materials, potato stocks and thistles. Most remarkable is the location of the midden near the door, almost exactly the location of the cess pit as described by the Commissioner of the Poor Laws in Ireland in 1835. This and other features at Port Wallace, home of the lowest strata of the working class, represent an important part of the culture of the early emigrant experience in Canada.