Built in 1834, a 75,000-pound Métis home crossed Georgian Bay after its owner sold it for $2

An 1834 Métis home built near the Canadian shoreline is beginning a new chapter after being moved across Georgian Bay. Its private owner sold the historic building for just $2 to help create a heritage museum. Known as the Labatte House, the building weighs about 75,000 pounds. It was placed on a special barge at Thunder Beach, Ontario, and carried across the water to Balm Beach. The move aims to protect what is believed to be Ontario’s oldest surviving historic Métis home. Louis-George Labatte and his family built the timber and stone house in 1834. It offers a direct link to the early history of settlement around the Great Lakes. The Métis Nation of Ontario organised the move to protect the building from damage caused by age or possible redevelopment of the original site.Navigating the shoreline journeyMoving a historic building weighing 75,000 pounds across open water required careful planning and special equipment. Moving crews used hydraulic jacks and steel beams to lift the single-storey house from its original foundations. Once the house was raised, the crew moved it onto a heavy-duty transport trailer. They then drove it onto a large barge waiting near the shore at Thunder ...