Scadding Cabin

Toronto(a)s oldest house, Scadding Cabin was built by the Queen(a)s Rangers in 1794 for John Scadding, clerk to Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe. The one-room cabin is constructed of squared, white pine logs with dovetailed corners. In 1879 the York Pioneer Society moved the cabin from its original site on the east bank of the Don River to its present location at Exhibition Place, an act now recognized as the city(a)s earliest example of architectural preservation. Scadding Cabin is furnished as a typical settler(a)s first house, with artifacts dating from the 1790s to the 1850s. The cabin’s first owner was John Scadding, an assistant to Upper Canada(a)s first Lieutenant Governor, John Graves Simcoe. Scadding’s log home originally sat about where present-day Queen Street crosses the Don Valley. In 1869, a small group of far-sighted men formed the YPHS to preserve the pioneer history of York County, which included Toronto. In 1879, the then owner of the cabin gave it to The Pioneers to preserve. Today the cabin sits quietly beneath the large windmill on the CNE grounds. Open to the public during the CNE and during the Doors Open event.