Jennifer E. Ferris has taken a lot of time and effort this year to document Lanark County apple orchards. I kept hearing about one in Kanata folks used to go too and today I found out all about it.

There was once three Brennnan brothers: John, James, and Nicholas, and in the 30s they worked for in Ottawa for a gentleman called Fred Matatall who was a the comptroller and vice-president of Ottawa’s Freiman’s department stores. Matatall bought an old stone home from Nicholas Brennan in 1953 for $12,000 and he decided to renovate the old home and strip all the old paint. What he found when he removed the old paint was beautiful pine wood- so that’s what he called the old Brennan home,“Pine Wood”. Soon it became a destiny for the women of Oglivy’s to have their grand teas in the cozy kitchen.

Apparently, Fred wasn’t so beloved by his neighbours after damming up Watt’s Creek to create a fish pond on his property, and he caused a drought for his neighbours. They decided to plant five kinds of apple trees and named their 40 acres Pinewood Orchards. The Mattatalls never got to see the first apples harvested from their orchard. After a NCC expropriation, the NCC rented out the estate, as well as the wood-frame house that had seen three generations of Brennans just a short distance south of the Queensway/Eagleson exit.

By then, Gerald and Ruth Brennan were living in a modern brick bungalow. Because the bungalow sat on the northeast corner of Lot 1, Concession 1, an easy walk from Gerald’s day job, the Brennans found themselves in the awkward position of being tenants of the NCC, in a house they had built to raise their family. During those years, Gerald watched as speculators snapped up land ever faster, and suburbia crept ever closer. The first planned community near the western tip of the Greenbelt was Lynwood Village in Nepean. It was built by Bill Teron, the developer and architect who went on to build Kanata.

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal, 17 Oct 1970, Sat, Page 45

With files from Silver Heights and NCC Watch

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun andScreamin’ Mamas (USA)

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place.