This historic House was the home of John McFarland and his descendants for 150 years. The original John McFarland, a widower with four children, emigrated from Paisley, Scotland around 1782. He married Margaret Wilson, a neighbour, and before her death in 1809, five children were born.
John McFarland and his sons built the house about the year 1800 from bricks made in a kiln on the property. A back wing was added later to accommodate a growing family.
During the War of 1812, the McFarland House was used as a hospital by both the British and the Americans, and a British gun emplacement, located on the property, protected the river.
John McFarland was taken prisoner during the war and sent to Greenbush, New York. When he returned after the war, he found his house badly damaged, with windows, doors and mantels missing. Inscribed on his tombstone in St. Mark's Church, Niagara-on-the-Lake, is a list of these woes which are said to have contributed to his death in 1816.
Restored by The Niagara Parks Commission in 1959, the house is furnished in the Empire period with a cut off date of 1840. The garden at McFarland House is illustrative of a typical mid 19th century door yard garden, although land use changes over the last hundred years has allowed the original location of the garden to be lost. Gardens located in the door yard (defined as that area near the house typically between the house and the barn where daily chores took place) were typically used as kitchen gardens and to some extent ornamental. McFarland House thanks the Garden Club of Niagara for their planning and upkeep of the garden.
