Around 230 people visited the Chiefswood National Historic Site during the Doors Open Along the Grand event on Saturday, May 9, 2026.
This year, 34 communities throughout the province are taking part in the program, and for the second time ever, the City of Brantford, the County of Brant and Six Nations of the Grand River, came together to present Doors Open Along the Grand.
During the one-day event, residents and out-of-town visitors alike were given free access to explore 18 heritage buildings and sites across all three communities, including the Chiefswood National Historic Site.
Located on the same property as Chiefswood Park, Chief George H.M. Johnson built the national historic site as a wedding present for his English bride Emily Howells.
Built between 1853 and 1856 using black walnut trees growing on the estate, the building served as the couple’s family home for nearly three decades.
“They were a biracial couple at a time when that was taboo. Her family originally immigrated from Britain to Ohio to help with the Underground Railroad, and then she relocated to Onondaga. There used to be a parsonage there and George was interpreting between Mohawk and English,” said Spring Carter, Tourism Coordinator for Six Nations Tourism. “Apparently it was love at first sight, but they had to keep it a secret, even from her sister who was married to the Reverend. So they hid love letters to each other on the property for five years and eventually they went in secret by train to Kingston to get married, and that’s when they came back and told everybody that they were in love and together.”
Derived from the popular Italianate style of the Picturesque movement, the house was built using what’s called plank-on-plank construction and features two front doors, two fireplaces and 12-foot ceilings on both the upper and lower levels.
“He milled all of the wood from this property,” said Carter. “At this time, this used to be a 200 acre working farm, but the home now sits on about three to four acres.”
The couple went on to have four children; Evelyn Helen Charlotte Johnson, Henry Beverley Johnson, Allan Warrant Johnson and Emily Pauline Johnson.
While the two oldest were born at the parsonage as the home was being built, Allan and Pauline were born in the home’s upstairs nursery.
Pauline, a celebrated poetess in her later years, began writing her poetry in the home at the age of eight and later became a published author at the age of 18. It wasn’t until she was 31 when she started her speaking career.
The national historic site not only shares the history of the young poet, but provides detailed information about her father, oldest sister and grandfather, John “Smoke” Johnson.
“He’s important to this house and his family for a number of reasons. The first is that he spoke all six languages, plus English and that’s unheard of nowadays,” said Carter. “He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and he lived to the age of 93. He would visit Chiefswood regularly and told the children stories of the community, so much so that Pauline attributed her ability to speak to his own.”
Throughout the event, visitors had the opportunity to take themselves on a self-guided tour around the Johnson home.
Many of the rooms featured several Johnson family belongings, as well as various pictures of Pauline and her siblings.
After George died in 1884 and the Johnson family left Chiefswood to move to Brantford, the house was eventually rented out to tenants for decades.
Evelyn would ultimately inherit the property after her mother’s death in 1898, and she willed the home to people of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory after her own passing in 1937
Chiefswood would become federally recognized as a historic site in 1953, and Six Nations Elected Council began fundraising to restore the home and open it as a museum in 1963.
Brantford resident Frankie Shrubsole was just one of the many people who stopped by to explore the national historic site on the day.
Noting that it was her first time taking advantage of the community-wide event, Shrubsole said she thought Doors Open was a great concept.
“I really like it because I love learning about the history of our area. We have so much history here and it’s nice to learn more about the people who came to our region from all over the world, and all the things they accomplished too,” she said. “It’s also great that Doors Open makes access to all these places free. During a time where it’s so expensive to experience things, it’s nice to have a really affordable way to discover more about Brantford and the surrounding communities.”
When asked what she thought about the national historic site, Shrubsole said “I’m just amazed, I’ve always wanted to come here.”
Carter later said that Doors Open was a great opportunity to get new people through the doors of the historic site.
“It really opens doors for people that typically wouldn’t have come here because it allows them free access, and I think for a lot of people, that’s the incentive they need to show up to a place they haven’t been to before,” she said. “We’ve already had 226 people come through today, and we’ve had a lot of new faces, some who have shared that they live just around the corner and have never been here before so that’s great.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
