The Henry Ferris Bolton House gives a solid example of an important heritage design feature: the “Loyalist Door”, in the Adamesque style popular in Canada in the early 1800s. The main entrance is set in a recess with panelled sides and a semi-elliptical fanlight transom. A window with a semi-circular head is located under the front gable and a semi-circular ‘vent” in each end wall contains wood moulded in the shape of a fan. Note the returned eaves. The date of 1854 and the name, James Donovan, are inscribed above one of the windows. James is presumably the builder. Flat and rectangular windows feature stone voussoirs and sills.

After coming to Canada and settling on a bush farm near Portland, Henry Ferris Bolton wed Anne Singleton, the eldest daughter if William Singleton (both born in Ireland). In 1831, Singleton bought 100 acres in the southern part of Captain Rorison’s Lot 2 and built a log cabin which lay close to the site where the present stone house would be built. For their first 13 years of marriage, Anne and Henry shared the log cabin with the rest of her family.

By the time the first comprehensive census for Canada West was completed in 1851, William had died, and the cabin was lived in by Henry, Anne and their three daughters, as well as Anne’s mother and an Irish girl who is thought to be a servant.

The farm prospered during the following years as Henry was able to build the current stone house by 1854. When Henry died in 1897, his son, William Henry (called Willy Hen locally) ran the farm.

Henry Ferris Bolton House was designated in May of 1988 by the former Bastard and South Burgess Township. Reasons for designation are primarily architectural: it’s a one-and-one-half storey T-shaped house, with a full basement. The naturally finished sandstones are set in even course in the walls. Flat and rectangular windows feature stone voussoirs - in fact, the multi-paned casement window having large central panes and small lateral panes or lights are a rarity in this locality. A good example of the Loyalist Door. Stone pillars once marked the entrance to the property from the road, but were removed when the highway was widened.