Owner of Charlottetown log cabin wants to turn it into cafe
Owner speculates house could be from the 18th century
A man who owns a centuries-old log cabin in downtown Charlottetown hopes to fix it up, and turn it into a café.
Ray Campbell owns the house at 15 Hillsborough St. He has applied with the city to rezone the property to allow for a café.
"A property like that deserves for the general public to see it," said Campbell.
If it isn't rezoned, he'll only be able to use it as a house.
'Definitely from a different era'
Campbell has owned the property since 2002. It wasn't until last year, when doing a small home renovation, that he discovered the house's structure is an old log cabin.
Campbell originally heard estimates that the house was from around 1850. Now, he said some experts think it could be from as early as sometime in the 1700s.
"It's definitely from a different era in Charlottetown history," said Campbell.
Campbell came up with the idea of turning the house into a café because he wants the public to be able to enjoy the building, and he didn't think a museum would be a money maker.
"This would be unique for Charlottetown," said Campbell.
At a public meeting held by Charlottetown council Tuesday evening, several councillors spoke favourably about Campbell's aim to restore the building. Richard Brown, MLA for the area, also attended the meeting and said he supports the idea.
Campbell will still have to wait and see if council approves the rezoning request.
'Labour of love'
Campbell said the house is not in great shape, and a lot of work would have to be done to restore it.
"It's just going to be a labour of love in order to do it," said Campbell. He said the project of restoring the building would also be time consuming, but he isn't in a big hurry.
"I mean it's been standing for over 200 years, so another couple of years is not going to hurt."
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