ELORA – For nearly 170 years, Elora’s Drew House has made its mark on the people that have resided there.
Those who live in Elora or have passed through may be familiar with the renowned stone structures located at 120 East Mill St.
What they may not know, however, is this house is filled with many stories and secrets of former residents.
Originally built in the summer of 1855 by George Alexander Drew, an aspiring lawyer and grandfather of an Ontario premier, the house has evolved over the years, with marks left behind from each owner and passed on to the next.
Marks like the initials “GD” can be found inscribed into a windowpane, a parrot hook extends from the limestone wall on the front exterior of the house and a carefully carved banister lines the stairs from the entrance.
The evolution of this heritage home has recently been documented by local researcher Elysia DeLaurentis in the newly released book, A Grand and Storied Home: The Drew House of Elora, Ontario.
“On the surface, the story is about the Drew House,” DeLaurentis said in an interview. “This structure that’s been on that same site for decades and decades, and that people know so well.
“But really, it’s the story about the people who lived in that space.”
The almost 170-year-old stone structure at 120 East Mill St. in Elora.
As a historical research consultant, DeLaurentis combined her research with the personal stories of former residents to piece together the evolution of Drew House.
“Once you get looking into the history of people, there’s all sorts of things to uncover,” she explained. “So there’s quite a few interesting stories, both about the house, but also about the people who lived there.
“The stories that I uncovered about the people who lived there are quite colourful, and oftentimes, it’s difficult to separate those from the stories of the house.”
The Drew House now operates as a bed and breakfast run by Roger Dufau and Kathleen Stanley.
Dufau, who initially purchased the property in 1977, had plans to convert it into a restaurant, but his plans were thwarted by the council at that time.
After travelling overseas for nearly two decades, Dufau returned to the small town of Elora and decided the time was right.
In 1999, he open what is now the bed and breakfast on the property.
After receiving lots of interest from guests about the house’s history, Stanley said the idea to put together a book about the house came about.
The project, which initially began as a small booklet, has evolved into a 146-page story on the house and the lives of those that have made their mark on it.
The full colour book is heavily illustrated, featuring photographs and maps that date back to the 1800s.
At the outset of her research, DeLaurentis said one thing that surprised her was that the Drew House is so well known, yet there wasn’t much documented on it.
“It’s this grand old stone house in Elora,” she said. “And everybody knows it.
“And yet, when I looked to see what earlier historians had written about the home, or just what historical nuggets were – the things that other people had done on the home – there was very, very little and what there was, was questionable.”
The initials ‘GD’ (George Drew) can be found etched into the windowpane on the main floor of the house.
She said she had to start from scratch to determine what the actual story behind the house was and who the owners were.
“Any sort of property research involves piecing together the puzzle,” she explained. “So older homes just tend to have more puzzle pieces to put together.”
As she began her research and came across the previous owners’ stories, DeLaurentis said it became clear that the initially planned size of the project wouldn’t be long enough to capture all the colour.
“I’ve tried to capture the flavour of the times and get some description of how other people describe the residents who live there to get a sense of what they were like,” she said.
In addition to the initial lack of documentation, DeLaurentis said she was surprised by some of the stories she encountered.
“Each little bit of information I uncovered was a surprise,” she explained. “And it’s once those are pieced together, like a puzzle wants to piece together, the story sort of comes together on its own.”
Having seen the evolution of the project from its start to the final product, Dufau said the story is very well researched.
“We didn’t know the depth about what has been written,” he said. “So it’s very interesting because its mostly about the village and the life at the time.
“It’s an old property with a lot of history.”
Local researcher Elysia DeLaurentis and author of ‘A Grand and Storied Home: The Drew House of Elora, Ontario,’ stands along the front exterior of the house.
Stanley said DeLaurentis couldn’t find a basis for some of the stories the couple had heard.
“So that was surprising too because some of the things you hear they’re urban legends passed down from one owner to the next,” she said.
“And things evolve and so you hear stories from people in town or you read things, and it’s not attributed so she chased them down and usually there was a kernel of truth in the story.”
She said DeLaurentis was able to uncover some secrets they didn’t know about, including a story about someone who tried to burn the place down in the 1800s.
Despite the property’s age, few families have owned Drew House.
Stanley said one of the great things that have come out of the project is that it’s brought together the families and the descendants of the families who owned the property.
“They still have this connection with Drew House,” she said.
The book concludes with Stanley and Dufau’s story.
In 1995, Stanley, originally from New Jersey, came to Elora for work. It was there that she first encountered the Drew House, renting out a room during her stay.
When Dufau returned from his time overseas, the pair met and became friends. The couple maintained a long-distance relationship for two years before getting married in October of 2000.
“It’s definitely a place that it’s easy to feel at home here and kind of fall in love with the property, so it’s been a good journey,” Stanley said.
“We always said the house chose us.
Kathleen Stanley pictured here with her ‘Nancy Drew door,’ one of the many things she loves about the house.
“Pretty much every day when you wake up here you pinch yourself that you live in this sort of a place,” she explained.
“This beautiful home that feels so welcoming, and that we’re so privileged to be here, we both feel like that.”
Stanley said it’s not so much a question of ownership, but stewardship.
“Each owner that’s come here, and now us, we feel that we’re just the caretakers,” she explained. “So we’re taking care of Drew House for the next generation.
“You make your mark on it because if you change something, you want it to be as good for the next person,” she added, referring to the six bedrooms Dufau converted in the coach house when they turned it into a bed and breakfast.
“And the people who’ve gone before you have done that too and you can see where the house has evolved over time.”
A Grand and Storied Home: The Drew House of Elora, Ontario is available at the Magic Pebble in Elora, The Bookery in Fergus and at the Drew House.
“It becomes part of your identity,” Stanley said of the house.
“You just become part of the fabric of Elora,” she added. “The Drew House is a part of the fabric of Elora and then when you live here you become identified with that.”
