Shakesides Dream by Robert Cordrey

A song to support efforts to save Shakesides, a wonderful old house in my community of Comox, B.C.

The article below is quoted from:

https://tidechange.ca/2016/06/17/the-story-of-shakesides/

Hamilton Mack Laing a respected Canadian naturalist and writer, moved to Comox in 1922. When he died in 1982, he left property and cash to the Town of Comox. His home, Shakesides, built in 1949, was in fine condition, fully-furnished and filled with the artifacts of his long and productive life. Laing left $45,000 to the Town, requesting that it be put into a trust account. 25% of the money was to be used to create a modest “natural history museum” in Shakesides. Interest on the remaining 75% was to be applied to the annual operating expenses of the museum, but:
The Town of Comox accepted the funds and the terms of the trust agreement,but:

1) Did not put the funds into an interest-bearing account as requested. The total trust fund was worth just $48,000 in 2000. Today, that value would exceed $270,000.

2) Did not create a natural history museum in Shakesides, as requested, and did minimal maintenance on the property for 34 years. Trust funds were spent on projects that did not qualify.

3) Rented Shakesides to a series of tenants until 2013.

4) Did not respect the wishes of a generous man, one of Canada’s first environmentalists. The property he gave the Town, Mack Laing Park, is now valued at $1.6 million.

Many local communities celebrate their heritage and historic figures. Creating a natural history museum in Shakesides should be a community project. The Mack Laing Heritage Society of the Comox Valley (MLHS) and its members are eager to participate in such a project.

The MLHS won a 2016 Heritage BC Award for Education and Awareness. Join us in recognizing Mack Laing’s legacy and contribution to Canada.

Find out more about Mack Laing and Shakesides, and browse the library of important documents at: www.macklaingsociety.ca

Shakesides Dream

this old house is a story
a good man`s life in 3D
60 years of gales and gardens
owl-eyed windows have seen
when the floorboards start creaking
the rocking chair will tell the tale
of birds and work and wonder
at the end of Mack Laing`s trail

he rode across the prairie
on his infernal machine
set his ready-cut kit house
where salt grass meets the sea
six weeks to split the shakes every nail
hammered by the same hand
drew the falcon and the robin
wrote the soul of this land

don`t take Shakesides dream
don`t put its treasure
in a dumpster with the beams
let our children lean from the windows
watching salmon swim upstream
please don`t take Shakesides dream

can you hear the kids come laughing
through the woods down the creek
asking whats inside the old house
still has so much to teach
how to be good for something
a trust is not for sale
and the birds the work the wonder
at the end of Mack Laing`s trail

© Robert Cordrey Sept.2017