The property at 213 Horseshoe Valley Road E. (Lot 1 Concession 8 Oro) has a long history. Prior to 1857 it was registered to The Crown. It was then granted to Walter Tudhope. In 1883 the farm was purchased by William Beaton of Coulson for $3500 and it remained in the Beaton family for over a hundred years. William and his wife Annie Bell farmed here and raised a family of four. The original house was destroyed in a fire in 1896. A brick farmhouse was built in 1897. 

In 1923, the farm passed to son William T. Beaton who was known as W.T. He and his wife, Gladys Ego, had ten children. They ran a mixed farming operation with dairy cattle, pigs, sheep and chickens. The youngest child of W.T. and Gladys, Evelyn Horne, has many memories of growing up on the farm at Coulson. There was a lot of hard work. The children pitched in with all farm work—milking cows, tending horses, shearing sheep, digging potatoes and so on. They worked the fields with their father, first with horses and later with tractors. The Beaton family was the first in the community to acquire a tractor in the late 1940s. It was an exciting day when the family gathered to watch son Charlie drive the shiny red Cockshutt tractor up the road from town. 

A barn fire was every farmer’s nightmare. One day in the mid-1950s the barn on the property across the road caught fire. (Kids + matches = Bad news) Once a barn was on fire, there was generally no saving it. A water truck had been dispatched to hose down the roof of the neighbouring house to prevent it from burning, too. Unfortunately, embers from the burning barn floated across the road and landed on the wooden window sill of the Beaton barn, setting it ablaze. A second water truck was re-routed and managed to douse the fire and save the barn. To succeed in saving a barn from fire was a huge good-news story! Well-known broadcaster Pete McGarvey of CFOR came to the farm that day and broadcast the news right from the Beaton barn.

A unique feature of this farm was the grove of Catalpa trees. In need of a windbreak to shelter the house, W.T. placed a special order of these somewhat exotic trees. Catalpas are big trees with leaves like giant hearts. They produce sweet-smelling flowers like white, ruffled bells that are full of fragrance and nectar. In the fall, these become large dangling pods. These trees were well-known in the community and beloved by the family. Ruth Beaton, daughter of W.T and Gladys, set her wedding date so that the church could be decorated with fragrant Catalpa blossoms.

After W.T’s death in 1963 his son Donald moved to the farm with his wife Jeanne and family. This fourth generation carried on the farming tradition until 1988 when the property was sold out of the family. The new owner subsequently sold the barn to a farmer from a Mennonite community who carefully dismantled and removed it for use elsewhere. The barn foundation was removed by McKerrolls, a local excavation company.

The health care centre at Coulson was constructed just in front of the former location of the Beaton barn. It is a picturesque, rural setting with wonderful views of the surrounding countryside.  While caring for her patients, Dr. Lee has also poured care and attention onto the property. The lawn and gardens are beautifully maintained. There’s always a corny joke on the sign at the gate to brighten your day. There are 84 acres of surrounding farmland that remain productive through an agreement with a local farmer. The brick farmhouse has been carefully restored and is rented out. And the old Catalpa trees are still there­—living in the midst of a variety of new trees that have grown up around them. Past and present.