Coulson Past and Present
Valley Croft Event Centre
— by Anne Walker
The Valley Croft Event Centre is located at 754 Horseshoe Valley Rd W. between the 4th and 5th Lines of Oro-Medonte. Today it might be seen as part of the community of Horseshoe Valley. However, before the 1960s there was no Horseshoe Valley and this property sat on the edge of what was recognized as Coulson.
Valley Croft offers guests a unique and charming rustic venue experience. The main feature of the property is a beautifully-restored heritage barn that dates from 1893. The nine private acres offer natural garden and lawn areas, an ornamental fishpond, trails into a pine and hardwood forest and a large fire pit area. On top of all that, “Horseshoe Cottage” is a charming 3-bedroom B&B located on site.
Owner Kate Marrs acquired the property in 2013 and lives on site in a private residence, the former farmhouse. While there had been some events held there previously, she undertook a complete restoration of the barn to ensure it was not only pretty but structurally sound. With engineering consultants and a Mennonite restoration team, the barn was given new life. While the outside of the barn has maintained its authentic character, the inside was given a make-over. It was made completely accessible, the original stone masonry restored, noise insulation added, and a new floor installed. While the venue hosts a variety of events, weddings are among the most popular. Ceremonies are usually held on the lawn, the dinner is served upstairs in the barn loft, and the party continues downstairs. Future plans for the venue include “Flame to Fork” dinners in partnership with Wine Journeys of Barrie.
The charming “Horseshoe Cottage” was originally a drive shed that was converted to a residence in 1985. The Cottage features 3 bedrooms, each with an ensuite and fireplace, a full kitchen, a lounge area, satellite TV and WIFI. A covered porch and outdoor fireplace round out this wonderfully warm accommodation.
Marrs explains the choice of the name —“Valley” because it is located near Horseshoe Valley and “Croft” (an old Scottish word meaning an enclosed area of farmland with a crofter’s house on site) as a nod to the agricultural history of the property.
The Kissick Farm
In the 1860s an Irishman named Joseph Kissick acquired 200 acres at Lot 1 Concession 5 Medonte and set about clearing this land for a farm. He was an unmarried man who lived here with his mother Anne, his brother Robert, Robert’s wife Letitia, and their children. The property was divided in the 1880s so Joseph kept the west half (where Valley Croft is today) and Robert, the east half. “Kith ‘n Kin”, a history published by the Township of Oro, describes the Kissick family as “stone fence builders”. The old stone fences are still evident around these properties today.
Robert’s property passed to his son Jodie who married Mary Jane Cooke from a neighbouring Coulson farm. Some time before 1921 Jodie and Mary Jane abandoned this property and moved to Edgar. This “east half” was eventually sold to Copeland Mills in 1945.
Meanwhile, Jodie’s uncle Joseph had sold his 100 acres on the west half in 1903. The land was proving to be less than ideal for agriculture. The light soil, exposed by clearing the forests, had been exhausted by early farming practices and erosion, leaving primarily sand hills. Between 1903 and 1929 the property changed hands several times before coming to Ethel Victoria Williams.
The Williams Farm
Here begins a very interesting phase of Valley Croft’s history. Victoria and Jimmy Williams lived in Toronto with their three children. Jimmy was happily employed in finance but Victoria hated the city and loved the countryside. So, in 1929 he bought her a farm. In the words of grandson-in-law David Hawke, “a less than promising piece of land comprised of open sand, a derelict house with no water and at the end of the road from any direction.” Repairs and two additions to the house were made in 1930, and in 1931 the family moved in.
The farm was located on the Town Line (known now as the Horseshoe Valley Road). This was merely two dirt tracks with grass growing in between. It was passable only half of the year and otherwise deep snow or mud. In the mid-60s the road was straightened, paved, and the hills cut down. In early days the section which runs through present day Horseshoe Valley took several twists and turns to navigate the steep hills. It took a strong team of horses to manage this trip and it was not negotiable at all in winter.
The Williams family had an unusual arrangement for the times. Victoria and the children lived and worked on the farm while Jimmy maintained his full-time job in the city. He joined the family each weekend, traveling by train to Craighurst or Carley. They had a car to fetch Father in the warm months but in winter relied on a horse and cutter. After a storm, a local farmer would be required to “break the road” with his team. Some winter days Jimmy had to ski from the station to the farm.
Life on the farm had its challenges. No water could be found on the property so, instead of a well, a system collecting rainwater in a large cistern was built. For a while there was no indoor plumbing or running water (that came later). The home was heated with wood and later with oil. Initially they employed a hired hand but, as the children grew, they and their mother became the farmers. Horses powered the farm machinery. The pasture was too poor for cows but they raised goats, sheep, chickens and turkeys. When not busy with chores, the Williams children attended Coulson School, walking (or skiing) the mile and a half up and down the hills.
Vick and Jimmy were advised by the local agriculture office to avoid ploughing their land since this would expose the “blow sand” and lead to even more erosion. Instead they were told to plant trees. So, every spring from 1931 to 1935 that’s what they did. Planting by hand with a spade, they eventually covered 60 of their 100 acres with Red Pine. These plantations are now the Cathedral Pines and Pine Ridge subdivisions of Horseshoe Valley. In the fields that were scattered between the plantations they planted crops that stabilized the soil and improved fertility.
Long before the hills and forests of the area became the recreational playground known as Horseshoe Valley, the Williams family enjoyed their rural haven with free time spent skiing, snowshoeing and hiking through the pines. Vick and Jimmy’s daughter, Jane, married Matt Valk on the property in 1954, perhaps foreshadowing the beautiful wedding venue that the farm would become as Valley Croft. Thank you to Julie (Valk) and David Hawke for sharing Jane Williams Valk’s soon-to-be-published memoir of growing up on the property.
The Williams family sold the farm in 1969. It passed through a number of hands before evolving into the present Valley Croft Event Centre.
Farmhouse and barns after renovations with young tree plantation in foreground.
c.1939 Credit-Williams Valk Family Photos