Burwick House

Burwick House was originally built on Pine Street in Burwick which later became Woodbridge in 1844. The house was built by Rowland Burr, who was born in Philadelphia but moved to Canada with his family when he was still a young boy.  Burr was a contractor, Justice of the Peace and landowner.  He is best known for his staunch views against alcohol and his support of building a canal linking Toronto and Georgian Bay via the Humber and Holland Rivers and Lake Simcoe and the Severn and Nottawasaga Rivers.  

Burr bought land on the Humber River, subdividing it and creating the village of Burwick.  It was here that Burr constructed Burwick House.  The house was built with an imposing facade indicative of the rural Georgian style of architecture.  Traditional Georgian architecture was a set of styles current between 1714 and 1830 based on the classical architecture of  Rome and Greece.  The style was revived in the colonies and Burwick House is a good example of the style.  

Burwick House is two storeys and was constructed with mortise and tenon joint framing and covered in clapboard.  Mortise and tenon joinery has been used for thousands of years by woodworkers all around the world to join wood mainly at an angle of 90'.  The interior of the house was finished with lath, compromising of thin strips of wood forming a foundation for the plaster.  Burwick House has a kitchen at the rear and was constructed with an adjoining coach house.  In 1958 Burwick House was one of the first structure relocated to the Black Creek Pioneer Village, a recreation of 19th Century life in rural Canada on Black Creek, a tributary of the Humber River.  The front part of the building was moved first.  The kitchen wing was faithfully reconstructed as authentically as possible.  The barn was acquired and recreated separately.  

Burwick House is a very active building with many seperate accounts of paranormal phenomena being reported by visitors to the Black Creek Pioneer Village and by the staff.  Knocking sounds, cold spots, unexplained footsteps and objects moving of their own volition have all been reported.  A grandfather clock that is situated in the house is believed to be enchanted and chimes unexpectedly even though the clock no longer works.  A staff member responsible for closing the curtains on the top storey of the house often reported coming out of the building and locking it for the night only to find one or all the curtain open again when she reached the street and looked up.  A rocking horse in the house rocks by itself like someone is riding on it.  A full female spirit has been seen standing at the fireplace or by the rocking horse.  

The Black Creek Pioneer Village is a beautiful place to visit and is filled with relocated historical buildings that seem to have bought their former occupants with them.