Cultural Landmarks of Hamilton-Wentworth

The Hermitage

Location:   Sulphur Springs Road, Ancaster, Ontario

The first resident of the Hermitage in Ancaster was a Presbyterian Minister, Reverend George Sheed, who bought the property and built a house on it in 1830. Reverend Sheed helped to start a Presbyterian church on Sulphur Springs Road. However, he died before it was finished. His funeral was the first service held in the church once it was completed.

In 1833, the Reverend's land was sold to an Englishman, Otto Ives, who had immigrated to Canada from Greece.

Later, in 1855, the land was sold to a man named George Gordon Browne Leith, the second son of a Scottish baronet, Major-General Sir George Alexander Leith. As the second son, he could not inherit the title or property of his father, so he was given a pension and sent to live in Canada. George Leith had a large house, with several smaller attendant buildings, built on the site. The house included a library, drawing room, dining room, stable, kitchen, carriage room, workroom, children's nursery and a two-room laundry. The construction of the house cost nearly £2,000.

George Leith lived at the Hermitage with his wife, family and several servants. Most of the food required to sustain the household was provided by the land, which by 1861 included a well-developed farm. Out of 250 acres, 150 were cleared and cultivated. Leith even built a barn, granary and house down the lane for his tenant farmer.

In 1865, Leith sold ten acres on the west side of Sulphur Springs Road to his daughter and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Wright. On this piece of land, they built a large, eighteen-room house.

The Wrights sold the property in 1870 and in 1880 the house was turned into a hotel. Close to the building was a mineral spring, once thought by local settlers and Natives to have healing properties. The hotel was used as a summer spa, with the mineral spring being a main attraction.

In 1901, after the death of George and Alexander Leith, George's youngest daughter, Alma Dick-Lauder, purchased the estate from the surviving members of the family for $5,500.

By 1910, the hotel had suffered two fires and had to be permanently shut down.

In October of 1934, the Hermitage was struck by yet another fire. This fire began during a party and practically destroyed Mrs. Dick-Lauder's house. The seventy-nine-year-old woman refused to leave the site. In fact, she decided to put up a small tent outside the ruined mansion where she lived with her partially paralysed dog, various livestock pets and Italian canaries. She lived there until the building of her new small shelter was completed inside and eventually died in 1942 at the age of eighty-seven.

In 1947, the land was purchased by Mr. Charles Hill, who built an addition to the existing tenant farmer's residence using stone, which he removed from the ruins. In 1971, he sold 120 acres of land in the Dundas Valley to the Hamilton Region Conservation Authority. This included the estate known as the Hermitage, which was then still in ruins. The Hamilton Region Conservation Authority capped and pointed the ruins to prevent further damage to them and tours of the site were opened to the general public.

Two studies were done to look at the restoration needs of the Hermitage. The more aesthetically pleasing option was estimated to cost $250,000, which was determined to be much too expensive. The lower-costing alternative, estimated at $75,000, would have the ruins supported by steel columns and beams. Although this lower-costing alternative would have been just enough to stabilise the ruins, the Hamilton Region Conservation Authority could not afford it, so the site was fenced off, with its stone walls ready to collapse. A sign reading "Danger, stone walls in imminent danger of collapse" was placed on the fence to warn people away from the ruins and the site was closed, for its own good and for that of the public. Even though the site is in ruins, it is still a significant part of the historical and cultural background of Hamilton-Wentworth.

References:
Clipping File.  Ancaster - Historic Houses - Hermitage.   Special Collections, HPL.

The Hamilton Public Library would like to thank the Hamilton Conservation Authority, for graciously contributing information for this website.