Sturgeon Brian

Article by Erika Glasberg
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January 24, 012

Brian Sturgeon has been around wood his whole life and he uses his passion for woodworking to create extremely detailed model homes in his Cornwall residence which is filled with all the crafting tools and supplies needed to create his newest model. which is a replica of an old.

CORNWALL - With the help of some fond memories and a passion for woodworking, Brian Sturgeon has been able to share a part of himself with his family. There are many hints of talent with wood seen throughout Sturgeon's apartment, including little wooden trinkets, a seasoning rack, and wooden desks, but nobody could ever guess that most of the furniture in his home was refurbished or handmade by Sturgeon himself.

"I was always tinkering in wood. All my life as a hobby and sometimes for money making. I did a lot of renovations," he said. "When I was 4-5 years old my father had a wood shop and he did a lot of the same stuff that I'm doing now. There was a lock on that door until I was about six years old then I was allowed, with supervision, and eventually I came to (love woodworking) and my own kids learned the same way.''

Though Sturgeon worked in factories and mills within the area for many years, woodworking was always in the back of his mind which eventually led him to create his own renovation business. "I learned trade, countertops and stuff like that from my dad,'' he said.

Just before Sturgeon's second son was born, his wife developed toxemia, a condition that can occur during a pregnancy that includes a combination of high blood pressure and protein in the urine; putting her in the hospital for a month. They hospitalized her for a month so I said what am I going to do?'"

The first model home he made was a replica of the house that he lived in with very little detail and nothing on the inside. As he continued to create, he got his inspiration from old houses such as those from the Upper Canada Village and other houses from South Stormont such as his newest project that is well under way with more that 450 hours put into making the replica of his early childhood summer house.

When Sturgeon was a young boy, he remembers the time that he spent at his family's cottage just before the flooding of St. Lawrence Seaway. He remembers woodworking taking up a major part of his life as well. "In the summer, over the years we rented a piece of property (from a farmer).It would be before Dickinson's Landing and long before the Seaway (flooding) and just west of Moullinette, there was a bay area and my dad built a
cottage with my two (older) brothers,'' he explained.

"In the summertime, we Would go there the 24th of May and open the cottage and all that, right down until Labour Day weekend.'' He sat in his small apartment beside the model home of his childhood as he continued to explain a much simpler time in South Stormont. "There was no running water, there was no electricity, an ice box, Coleman lamps. We had everything we needed. My dad had a big rain barrel in the back of the cottage and there was a hand pump in the bathroom that would pump the water from the river up to the barrel and you would listen and when you heard the water running, you knew you could flush the toilet.''

Though there is no bathroom in his model cottage, there are a lot of finer details added, such as a privy (outhouse) similar to those seen at many houses, equipped with toilet paper, a match and lantern.

Inside the home, there was everything from the old hardwood floors, bed, wood burning fireplace and ice box. Outside, were two little milk jugs, one of which held up a miniature mailbox with "Sturgeon" printed on the side. The milk jugs were made by taking his old asthma pumps and puncturing a hole in them. " I was telling my son, "'I have too much detail, I'm too old, my eyesight isn't that great; but I still want to do it.''