The Cabin Dwellers: Exploring the rich history of the Milford House

The Milford House on a wintry day

Just a twenty minute drive from Annapolis Royal, on highway 8 heading towards Kejimkujik, is a stately lodge with white clapboard and green trim called the Milford House. Originally on this land was a log cabin built by Abraham and Mary Thomas in 1860, who moved there from Queen’s County with their son Adelbert (Del).

This cabin was well placed as a stopping point for those travelling from Annapolis Royal to Caledonia and then to the coast on horseback. It was only natural that the Thomas family began to let travellers stay there overnight or come in for a warm meal. An influx of tourists and workers at local mills eventually led to the Thomases turning their home into an inn. When Abraham died in 1875, his wife and son took over the management of the house. Their son Del would eventually grow the Milford House from a family home into a large summer hotel.

The front cover to The Tent Dwellers

By the turn of the century, Del began to build little cabins on the property and allowed some of his regular visitors to build cabins of their own (many of those original cabins have been upgraded but are still there). In 1908, Albert Bigelow Paine wrote “The Tent Dwellers” recounting the author’s travels into Keji on a trout fishing trip with Del Thomas (owner of the Milford house), Dr. Eddie Breck (who lived in one of the cabins on the property), and their guide Charlie Charleton. They start off at the Milford House before they voyage into “Kedgeemakoogee” (as Paine spells it).

View of the Milford House in 1898 with the Thomas family standing in front.

The book became wildly popular, and added to the fame of the Milford House, drawing in tourists for fishing and wilderness experiences from America and across Canada. The historic photo above shows the house in 1898 with Del, his wife Annie, and their three children. The house was rebuilt after a fire in 2000, and again in 2014 after a second fire, so what you see today is a replica of the original building.

The signs leading to Buckshaw and Doeshaw cabins.

This winter I stayed in Buckshaw, one of their three winterized cabins. “Through the Woods”, a book of compiling stories on the history of Milford and the surrounding area, explains that Buckshaw and Doeshaw were once owned by Dr. Eddie Breck, one of the featured characters in Albert Bigelow Paine’s famous book “The Tent Dwellers” (1908).

The Buckshaw cabin was named after Mr. Buckshaw (Eddie’s dog) and it was here overlooking Boot Lake, that Dr. Breck wrote his book “Wilderness Pets at Camp Buckshaw” (1910). He was known to keep assorted animals in his cabins, including his porcupine Pompey. He also had bear cubs, wild cats, baby moose and ravens in the cabin. Children would love to come to his camp to talk to him about the animals he saved or studied, often getting a chance to feed them.

Dr. Eddie Breck with his baby moose, a photograph from the “Through the Woods” book.

In 1903, Dr. Breck came upon a porcupine seated on a rock and threw his coat over it, and then stowed it in his canoe to bring it to his cabin. When released, Pompey tried to run away but Mr. Buckshaw (his dog) headed him off. Pompey then sat down and scrutinized his company. Eddie gave him a tap of his nose and “he don’t even turn his back and get his tail in commission. They mostly do that.” Pompey proved to be a very unique porcupine who “seemed to have left all his wildness behind him on the rock where he was taken. His tameness from the very start was surprising; and it is fact that within two hours after his capture he was sitting contentedly on [Eddie’s] lap, gnawing a biscuit.”

A view towards one of the Milford cabins.

There are 28 rustic cabins in total at the Milford House, each one sitting on the shore of either Boot or Geier Lakes. Some were built by guests of the Milford House over the years, with the regulars returning each summer to form a little community of adventurous people. Dr. Eddie Breck’s cabins were known for their raucous poker games and late night parties. A retired Broadway star lived in another cabin. An architect lived in another with his wife, son and their Siamese cat Simby who they would take on canoe trips.

Looking around the grounds one can imagine the hum of activity with swimmers and canoeists in the water and children playing, but this past winter weekend the grounds were quiet. With the fire going in the evening, the two bedroom cabin became a cozy oasis. A fresh layer of snow fell overnight, and our view from the windows showed the frozen lake through snow covered trees.

An illustration from “The Tent Dwellers”.

The cabins would have been a refuge for tourists before and after multi-day guided trips through the wilderness of Keji. Perhaps this is where the idea of “glamping” originated, as hired guides from the Milford House would navigate on these trips, carrying the canoe, building the tents and constructing the beds from tree boughs, making the fire and cooking the meals. All the tourist had to do was keep up. One guide, Wellie Brown recounted a trip “he took down the lakes when he transported a heavy bag for one of his sportsmen and the bag was never opened from the time they left until they returned ten days later. Curiosity got the better of him when he was unloading the canoe and to his surprise it contained nothing but books — not one of which was opened the entire trip!”

I can’t help but think of all the times I’ve taken my own pile of books with me to little getaways, thinking I’ll need something to read if I get bored and never touching them the whole time - but to take them on a wilderness trek? Even for me that’s a step too far!

Sitting in front of the fire at the Buckshaw Cabin.

Another pastime at the Milford House was storytelling by the campfire (hence the photo above with my husband by the fire at our cabin). Some of these stories were passed down through the years creating local legends. My favourites, recorded in the local history book on Milford, are about a pet trout and a sidehill gouger.

“There was Tommy, the pet trout, who was trained to breathe air and flip along on dry land. He eventually fell off a bridge into a river and drowned. Or the sidehill gouger, whose legs are longer on one side than the other, so to stay upright, it can only walk around where there are steep hillsides. He is incredibly swift, so you have to approach him from the front, making him turn around, which puts his short legs on the downhill side. He then topples over and becomes easy to catch.” (p.83, Through the Woods)

An article from the Buffalo Courier on July 23 1922 about the side-hill gouger (from: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20155658/the-side-hill-gouger-by-art-childs/)

After reading this, I had to look up what a gouger was. Myths surrounding these creatures are common to New England, so it was likely the American tourists who introduced this legend to the area. This beast is pig-like in appearance, and goes by various names like the Sidehill Dodger, Sidehill Hoofer, Sidehill Ousel, Sidehill Loper, Gyascutus, Sidewinder, Wampus, Boofum, Gudaphro, Hunkus, Rickaboo Racker, Prock, Gwinter, or Cutter Cuss. Because they can only walk hillsides due to their short legs on one side, they can be tricked into walking in endless circles. “When a clockwise gouger meets a counter-clockwise gouger, they have to fight to the death since they can only go in one direction.”

A red squirrel eating its lunch on the cabin’s back deck.

While enjoying the view from Buckshaw cabin, a red squirrel ventured close to us, unafraid of his new weekend neighbours. I couldn’t help but think back to Dr. Eddie Breck’s “tame” pets living in the same cabin 100 years earlier who didn’t always behave themselves. In 1902, 8-year-old Farish Owen from Granville Beach spent time exploring the woods with Dr. Breck. One summer Farish “was given the task of caring for Eddie’s three young bear cubs when Eddie was on a week long trip to the woods. On one occasion, things got out of hand and there was quite a disturbance. The ‘three bears’ had upset a group of women who were having a bridge party in one of the cabins.

During their luncheon, these uninvited intruders climbed onto the table and helped themselves, much to the dismay of the women. Screams were heard, and on his return, Dr. Breck was chastised by A. D. Thomas about his lack of control and choice of pets. They had to go. Del could not have his guests put out by Breck’s animal friends!” (P.85, Through the Woods)

I think the red squirrel we met may be a descendent of one of Eddie’s pets, coming to say hello.

View of Buckshaw cabin towards the frozen lake.

Many of the certified guides would start at the Milford house in the morning and would head off with their small groups “far off the beaten track to Frozen Ocean, Kegemekoogie, the Tobeatic, Russell Stillwater, the Medway, Lake Rossignol and other such wild and lonely spots in the distant wilderness.” One of the most well-known was Wellie Brown. He, like a number of guides, could not swim. “When asked if he was concerned about capsizing, he explained that if he sinks, he will walk along the bottom to get to the shore.” (p.84, Through the Woods)

In the evenings after supper, relaxing after guiding trips, the guides would have log driving competitions, canoe racing or canoe tilting on Grier Lake by Milford House. Soon these became an annual event at the House, featuring “a sailing canoe ballast sitting contest, a butter-fingered butter bucket challenge, decorated canoe regattas, and miniature sailboat races.” (p.82) Canoe tilting was the most popular and involved pairs in a canoe, the paddler sat at the back steering and the dueler stood at the front holding a long pole with a burlap bag filled with straw attached to the end. You had to thrust it at your opponent to knock him over. “More often than not, the dueler simpler fell attempting to dodge, and at least half the canoes capsized. Everyone cheered.” (p.83)

View from the back deck of Buckshaw.

Henry Mirick wrote an article in the Annapolis Spectator in 1988 recounting some of his adventures at Milford over the last 60 years with his wife Marion and their Siamese cat named Simby. In the 1940s Simby enjoyed joining them on adventures, catching mice by campfire and sitting on top of Mirick’s backpack when they portaged with the canoe on multi-day wilderness treks.

Simby didn’t like being on the canoe so much unfortunately, being surrounding by water. I can’t blame him either. One day while on a multi-day canoe and hiking trip, a storm rolled in that threatened to flip the canoes. The adventurers and cat made it through the storm to their campsite, all members thoroughly soaked and all the labels washed off their canned food. They had to pick their dinner at random, and agreed to make sure to eat whatever they opened to avoid wasting food. That night they had beans for dessert instead of the pineapple they were hoping for.

A coffee on a chilly morning.

The Milford House and surrounding area has an important place in the early history of Nova Scotia tourism. Thanks for joining me on this little meander through the vibrant history of Milford house!