Our Story

In 1967, Sandy MacLachlan created the Woodworking Museum as a Centennial Project. To house the collection, he dismantled an 1855 log house, originally built by the White family in Lanark County, and moved it to Princess Street in Kingston, Ontario. There it operated as a privately‐owned museum for over a decade.

In the early eighties, it was bought by the former Pittsburgh Township and once again, the log house was moved to its present location at Grass Creek Park. With the amalgamation of the City of Kingston in 1998, the museum became the responsibility of the Culture and Recreation Division in the Corporation of the City of Kingston and then the Cultural Services Department when it was established in 2008.

The MacLachlan Woodworking Museum holds one of the most extensive collections of woodworking tools in Canada.

Founder, Father and Friend

Raised in Kingston and Ottawa, Sandy was a born collector and leader, seemingly destined to found a museum. As a child, he sharpened his ‘curatorial skills’ by collecting many things, including Hallowe’en candy. To keep his candy ‘artifacts’ safe from nibbling siblings, he would nail his collection into a wooden box, showing his early interest in conservation!

As a youth, Sandy developed his leadership skills by participating in Boy Scouts, Sea Cadets, Army Cadets, and the Queen’s Own Highlanders. At his mother’s request, Sandy completed one year of university before he donned his next uniform. After his first year of engineering at Queen’s university, Sandy joined the Canadian Navy and entered WWII. He did a three year tour of duty on the HMCS Huron as a radar operator. After the war, he returned to school and completed his engineering degree at Queen’s and then he moved to North Bay. In the late 1940s, Sandy returned to Kingston with his wife, Helen Ruth, to take over the family business (MacLachlan Lumber), settle down, and raise a family.

As he worked at the family lumber store, Sandy developed a deep fascination with wood and woodworking tools. He started to collect these things and even collected log cabins and entire log houses! As a centennial project, he opened a museum dedicated to ‘wood in the service of man’ where he showcased many artifacts of his personal collection. Eventually, Pittsburgh Township purchased the museum and moved it to its current location at Grass Creek Park.

In his twilight years, Sandy taught at Queen’s University. He also helped his wife run a bed-and-breakfast from their family home. Sandy took great joy in his family, especially in having grandchildren. He made use of his musical and story-telling skills at every family gathering.

The Log House

Since the mid-1800s, the log house at the MacLachlan Woodworking Museum has witnessed many events and changes over the years. With each person to own it, the house has served different purposes and been transformed with physical additions and layouts.

Who lived here? The Whites: From 1853 to 1890

1853

Robert White bought the lot in Montague Township, Lanark County, the original location of the house.

Did you know

Image of the front of the Maclachlan Woodworking Museum circa 2010

The house was of average size, but “a very nice one,” said a neighbour. Instead of a fireplace, there was a wood-stove for heating and cooking. Modern for the time, a wood stove was considered more efficient than an open fireplace. Additionally, it was the only house in the area to have two full floors.

Who lived here? The Whites: From 1890 to 1914

1890

Richard White, the second of Robert's ten children, inherited the property. "There had been a longstanding dispute between the eldest son William and his father. William only inherited one dollar after his father's passing."

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Richard was a nervous, shy man who never married. He lived in the house with his youngest siblings who had been granted the right to stay in their father’s will. Richard White prepared cures for eczema and nosebleeds. He continued to live alone in the house after his siblings later moved out.

1918

Richard White died, aged 62 years.

Who lived here? The Mirows: From 1914 to 1919

1914

Elizabeth Mirow and her husband purchased the property with “love and affection," for one dollar, from her brother, Richard White.

1919

The Mirow's executors disposed of the land only four years after it had been acquired.

Who lived here? The Wilsons: From 1919 to 1928

1919

Albert Wilson bought the property after the death of Elizabeth Mirow.

Did you know

The Wilsons never lived in the house -- they used it as a dance hall to supplement their family income. The furniture was removed from the house to accommodate the dancers and refreshments were served in what used to be the White’s bedroom. People travelled to the dance hall by horse and buggy or cars from as far as ten miles away.

Who Lived Here? The Rathwells: Early 1928 to the early 1940s

1928-1929

The Rathwells bought the house for fifty dollars and moved it to a new location in Montague Township, Lanark County. The house was purchased to replace their original home lost in a fire.

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Disassembly marks still visible on the interior walls of the Log House today.

When disassembling a log house, it was common practice to mark the logs to help identify their location during reconstruction. The Rathwells did this when they moved the house to its new location. These marks are still visible in the log house today.

1929

The Rathwells reroofed the house with tarpaper.

1931

The Rathwells added a cedar shingle roof. It is reported that the next owners did not use the upstairs because it leaked, perhaps suggesting the Rathwells' shingles were either of poor quality or the roofing work had been poorly done.

Who Lived Here? The Lackies: Early 1940s to 1946

1940s

The Lackie family purchased the house.

Did you know

The Lackies modified the house to suit their needs. At this time, the stairs were located against the back right wall, and were steeper and narrower than the present ones. The inside walls were one-inch thick pine with a wallpaper covering. Also, the root cellar could be accessed both from the inside and the outside of the house. The entrance from the outside was at the east foundation Inside, there was a trap door in the kitchen.

1946

The Lackies abandoned the house. They were the last family to reside there.

Did you know

The log house contains over 305 metres of white cedar designed to be taken apart and moved easily as required.

Making the Museum

1966

Sandy MacLachlan, owner of the Kingston-based MacLachlan Lumber Yard, purchased the log house.

Sandy wanted to move the building back to his lumber yard in Kingston to house a new woodworking museum.

1966

The log house was disassembled and moved down Princess Street -- Kingston's main street -- to its new home at the MacLachlan Lumber Yard.

1974

The log house opened its doors as the MacLachlan Woodworking Museum in its new location at 1316 Princess Street in Kingston close to the intersection of Portsmouth Road and Princess Street.

June 1981

The MacLachlan Lumber Yard went out of business. The museum, including its more than 3,000 artifacts was put up for sale.

1981-1982

Many different lumber companies from Canada and the United States were interested in purchasing the museum. Pittsburgh Township voted to purchase the museum in June 1981.

Did you know

Hans Westenburg, then Reeve of Pittsburgh Township, convinced his council to purchase the museum to prevent it from being lost. It was hoped that a municipal buyer would keep the museum and artifacts together.

April 22, 1982

Pittsburgh Township voted to re-locate the museum to Grass Creek Park. Two other sites were initially considered: a farm on Highway 15 and a space near the Treasure Island Marina located on Highway 2.

June 2, 1982

Museum on wheels: the log house being moved from 1316 Princess Street in Kingston to its new home at Grass Creek Park in Pittsburgh Township.

The log house was cut into two sections and transported 48 kilometres on trucks to its new home at Grass Creek Park in Pittsburgh Township.

May 28, 1983

The new board of directors officially re-open the museum at its new location. Members of this first board included Reeve of Pittsburgh Township Hans Westenberg, Deputy Reeve J.C. English, Gordon McGibbon, Frances K. Smith, C. E.D. Grice, Jean Heroux and Maurice D. Smith.

May 28, 1983

The museum featured many of the original exhibits curated by Sandy Maclachlan himself.

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The MacLachlan Woodworking Museum, 1991

The museum quickly gained popularity for its collection of rare woodworking artifacts and interpretive exhibits.

1983

Three images of the original museum exhibits curated by Sandy MacLachlan: different types of nails

The Wall of Axes

Panels of Spokeshaves

The "Wall of Axes" first used in 1983. It was reused in an exhibit on logging in 1997.

A museum exhibit focusing on craftsmanship. Visitors could use hand planes and learn about traditional cabinetmaking techniques.

Canadian woodworking history was an early focus of the museum. The ground floor of the log house featured a permanent exhibit highlighting the procedures and hand tools used in squaring logs for barn and house construction. The exhibits on the second floor of the house explored daily life in the pioneer era and the ancient trade of the sawyer.

March 24, 1986

Some of the vast collection of hand planes held at the Maclachlan Woodworking Museum. The collection is now housed in a new climate controlled storage area.

The museum board announced plans to expand the museum to accommodate the rapidly growing collection and need for additional exhibit space. The museum could only display 20% of the collection. The Board worked to secure donations and grants for construction of an additional exhibition building with space for collections storage.

1988

Construction of new exhibition building completed including climate controlled storage.

1990

Plane collector and researcher Ivor Blower, makes the first of four large donations of hand planes to the museum.

1990s

Child learning to make candles

Blacksmithing demonstration in 1993

The museum added pioneer-based events and programming to its offerings. Immensely popular with visitors and students, participants could learn traditional skills such as candle making, blacksmithing and weaving; These offerings were seen as complementary to the museum's traditional woodworking collections and programs.

1991

Duck decoy exhibit opened examining a creative and artistic side of woodworking.

Did you know

A photograph of two of the museum's publications

The Museum has published several woodworking-related guides; some are reprints of early commercial tool catalogues. One particularly popular work, the Guide to Canadian Plane Makers & Hardware Dealers, was researched by staff and volunteers and has been published in three editions. Some of these are still available for purchase today.

1992

The Museum's collection grew rapidly with donations and purchases of significant Canadian tools and artifacts.

Summer 1994

A museum interpreter demonstrating wood planing in 1991. Source: Civic Collection

A workshop was set up in the basement of the log house and museum interpreters spent much of their time making furniture.

1994-1998

Frances K. Smith; member of the Board of Directors for the museum and important figure in shaping the museum.

The museum began planting trees in front of the log house to create an arboretum dedicated to the first Secretary / Treasurer and dedicated member of the Museum board, Frances K. Smith. Frances played a key role in the development of the museum in its new location at Grass Creek Park: she found funding to build the exhibition building and generated a modern inventory of the artifacts. The arboretum features a variety of native trees and accompanying interpretative panels to describe them.

1998

Colleen Rock showing a mousetrap from the collection to a group of students from Prince Charles Public School

Pittsburgh Township amalgamated with the City of Kingston. Spurred by the Museum's growing attendance, it announced plans to expand and create new children's and family programming.

1999

Left & Middle: Museum exhibits interpreting pioneer life

Staff baking bread with the bread oven in 1999. They baked bread once a week and gave it to museum visitors

To support the Museum's pioneer living theme, a bread oven was built so bakers could make fresh bread onsite. Candle making, woodplaning, log squaring and blacksmithing were other skills taught.

Did you know

The museum houses more than 15,000 artifacts including one of the largest public hand plane collections in North America.

Did you know

During the construction of the exhibition building in 1987 , a beautiful floor made of wood crosscuts set in resin was installed

Premature degradation of the original wood floor required its replacement in 2009 using a different technique to achieve a similar effect

The floor in the main entrance to the new building was hand made using wooden disks from trees native to the area. The disks were laid in a specially designed resin. This burnt cashew-based resin initially has a green hue that turns a dark shade, almost black, upon curing.

Did you know

Ivor Blower collected planes because he hated to see them rot away. He believed a plane was unique because it holds the marks of the person who used them: " a tool is an expansion of a man's hand."

2012

The terrace is completed connecting the original log house to the exhibition hall. The space was originally conceived as a 'Tea Terrace' but now serves as a perfect spot for picnics and museum programming.

2013

Instrument Maker's Finger Plane - 1.5 inches long!

Parks Canada transferred a number of unique and valuable artifacts to the museum. This acquisition included several pieces of fine furniture, such as a beautiful Quebec armoire, an 1820s dish cupboard and a music cabinet made from birds' eye maple. Before this, the museum had few examples of furniture in its collection.

2015

The MacLachlan Woodworking Museum hosted its first Lumberjack Survival Summit to teach participants practical outdoor skills. The event included activities such as axe throwing, crosscut sawing, campfire cooking, and fire starting.

Did you know

Students from Prince Edward School learn to use the shaving horse and drawknife, 1987

A student from Prince Edward School uses the shaving horse, 1987

Summer Student demonstrates using the same shaving horse in 2017

The museum has a shaving horse which has been used by staff and visitors for the past three decades. It can be seen pictured here in 1987 and in 2017.

2016

The museum opens "The Shakers – Decoding an Identity," a critically acclaimed exhibition featuring items on loan from Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts and the Canadian Museum of History. It explored how Shakers designed furniture to reflect their own morals, beliefs, and culture. The show also featured significant pieces from the Kingston area.

Did you know

Sandy MacLachlan's trench coat hanging in the office at the museum

A trench coat that once belonged to Sandy Maclachlan has long hung in the offices at the museum. It stands as a symbol of the hard work, love and passion he put into creating the museum and building its collection.