Other monuments

On Route 243 is a concrete cross with an angel atop a column about six feet high. It stands next to the Polish Canadian Welfare Institute (the Polish House). The cross is called the Polish Monument and is part of the Polish Cemetery. Not much is known by anyone living about these. There was an influx of Polish people here after the Second World War and a Polish settlement nearby. It is assumed that the Polish House was provided for new immigrants until they could stand on their own feet and were independent.

The English settlers in West Bolton generally felled the trees on their own land to build the barn. The trees then were two to three times larger and taller than they are today. The settlers then cut and hewed the logs by hand or had them sawn in a local sawmill. Either way, they built their barns from scratch and raised them themselves with help from the neighbours. As far as I can tell, there were no barns in West Bolton framed by the famous master carpenter, Orwille Sweet.

Today many of these beautiful old wooden barns no longer exist or are in a sad state of repair and likely to fall down. The huge beams and posts and the broad planks and cladding are usually sold and shipped all over North America to be reused in other buildings such as private homes.

It wasn’t until 1917 that the first gambrel-roofed kit-barn was raised in West Bolton by Roy Allen. The material, which included the sawn lumber and steel cladding, was purchased from a company in Sherbrooke. Kit-barns were relatively inexpensive and easy to assemble using the accompanying plans. They were popular for about 30 years.

Throughout West Bolton there are many farmhouses built of wood or brick or stone which date from the 19^th century. Some are dilapidated, others are well preserved and others have been repaired so often that none of the original materials exists on the outside.