Low Down Articles
Houses of the Gatineau Hills
Low Down Articles
Houses of the Gatineau Hills
Article 57 of 74
This article first appeared in the "Houses of the Gatineau Hills" column in the April 25, 2007 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
o o o
1930s post office still standing on Scott
Historically important buildings in Chelsea haven't yet been honoured with plaques, but in the meantime the Low Down will feature a few of these unrecognized establishments. This is the third in a series featuring heritage buildings in Chelsea.
The little log house on the corner of Scott and Paddden Rds still looks very much the same as when it was built in the mid to late 1800s.
Still referred to by historians as the 0'Meara house, it was first inhabited by settlers John O'Meara and his wife Mary Quinn.
"I know it was one of the first houses built. I was always curlous about the life of the settlers when they first moved here, how they lived day to day" says current owner Jeanne Dessureault, who has lived in the home since the 1970s. "I was told they raised 14 kids here, and it was just in this square little space, this 30 ft. by 22 ft. living room. Then there was a summer kitchen they all used for making food. Some people say there was a real garden with potatoes and in whiter they couldn't get water from the creek and there was a fountain where people could go in the village."
A succession of families moved in and out of the home until it became the Old Chelsea Post Otfice in 1928, according to R. A. J. Phillips' book Touring the Two Chelsea, published by the Historical Society of the Gatineau. Harry Dunn would deliver the mail to then-postmistress Grace Welsh while passing through the village by train en route to his own post office in Kingsmere. The post office was moved to the General Store in 1943, according to historical accounts, but Welsh and her husband Bill continued to operate a tearoom out of the home and served meals by reservation.
New owners added the first expansion to the building in the 1960s, adding 12 ft. to the north wall for a bedroom and eight ft. to the back of the summer kitchen. Much of the original log structure was restored in the 1970s, however, and though the walls are no longer whitewashed, the home has retained its original charm.