Description
The Felker Homestead is a collection of ranch buildings surrounded by hayfields, situated on the south side of Highway 97 at 118 Mile House on the shores of Lac La Hache in the Cariboo Regional District of British Columbia. This historic place includes a two-storey, fir-clad, wood-framed gable-roofed house with an attached veranda and woodshed; a two-storey fir log barn, and a one-storey fir log bunkhouse. Both log buildings have gable tin roofs. The buildings have been relocated across the highway from the original homestead site and placed in their original configuration on the new site. This historic place also includes the surrounding hayfield.
Heritage Value
The Felker Homestead is valued as an example of the mixed farming lifestyle which provided farm products for the goldfields and sustained early settlers of the Lac La Hache area. It is also valued for its place in the series of roadhouses and ranches along the historic Cariboo Waggon Road.
The house, built in 1884 at the 118 milepost of the Cariboo Waggon Road, and the other ranch buildings, are valued as examples of the typical construction methods and architectural designs of the time. The historic place is further valued for its location next to the historic Felker family graveyard and across the highway from the original site. The Felker Homestead is currently valued as a community gathering place and festival site.
Character Defining Elements
- Placement of the buildings in their original configuration on a new site
- Location next to historic Felker family graveyard
- Location on Highway 97, which closely follows the old Cariboo Waggon Road
- The surrounding natural hayfields, which are still being harvested
- Original eight stalls and hand-hewn log feeding troughs in the barn
- The name "118 Mile House"
- Full length post and beam, hip roof covered veranda on the house
- Fir-shingled roof on the house
- Hand axed, saddle-seated log work in the house
- Very wide fir partition walls (1" x 18", 1 x 20") in the house
- Fir tongue and groove ceilings and wall coverings in the house
- Hand-forged exterior door hinges
- Barn and bunkhouse log walls chinked with mud and cement, respectively
Additional information on Felker Homestead Heritage Site