A short 6 kilometre
down a gravel road drive through BC wilderness will take one to the Huble Homestead Historic Site, a preserved homestead now operated as a living heritage site by the Giscome Portage Heritage Society. Today the historic site is open daily from Victoria Day to Labour Day for guided tours, school and daycare programs, and special events. The site offers a wide range of public programming, featuring entertainment, tours for schools and local organizations, and heritage demonstrations, including blacksmithing, making butter and cheese, etc. The site, or parts thereof,
may be rented for both indoor or outdoor functions, parties and weddings. Capacity of indoor spaces is 100 individuals.
This is a complete homestead, with all the original buildings and many farm implements, wagons, household items, corrals and pastures remaining in place. The homestead was begun in 1911 by one
Albert James Huble and his wife
Ann May (Hart), both born in Ontario.
The Huble house has been declared a designated heritage building by the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George.
In 1911 Albert Huble returned from a visit to his family in Ontario with a new bride, Annie, and her daughter Ada. In the fall when Mrs. Huble had another baby, Bertha, the cabin in which they were living became too small for the growing family.
The house he built was a typical Ontario farmhouse, complete with squared logs and dovetailed corners. The house took nearly a year to complete... ...The family spent the winter in their new house. In the spring of 1913, Mr. Huble attached the family’s old cabin to the new house for use as a summer kitchen. Once completed, the two story house boasted a cellar, a large parlour and dining room, an office for Al, a first floor master bedroom, four upstairs bedrooms, and a summer kitchen.
From The Huble Homestead
The Hubles lived in the house until 1919, when they moved with their four girls, Bertha, Martha, Patricia and Gladys, into the city of Prince George, keeping the homestead as a summer home. In 1929 336 acres of the homestead, including all the buildings, was sold to Mrs. Josephine Walker Mitchell, who used the site to house workers on the WM Ranch for many years, selling the property in 1957.
After Mrs. Mitchell sold the property in 1957, the house and the land passed through several different owners. In 1983 a proposal was brought forward to move the historic house from its original location on the Fraser River to the Old Fort Brewery site in Prince George. A group of residents from Salmon Valley and Summit Lake organized to stop the move. In 1983 they formed the Giscome Portage Heritage Society and began restoration of the house in 1985. In 1989 the Huble house was unveiled to the public as the centerpiece of the Huble Homestead Historic Site. The Huble house is the oldest building on its original location in the entirety of the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George.
From The Huble Homestead
On the property is a reconstruction of the original
Seebach & Huble General Merchandising general store, built in 1913 by Huble and his business partner, Edward Seebach. The store operated until 1919, serving the locals as the only store of any kind for many miles. It was in that year that the road from Prince George to Summit Lake was completed, bypassing the Huble Homestead entirely. As a result Huble and Seebach closed the store and moved on to other ventures. Later the building was torn down, the Hubles using the lumber from the store to build a cabin at Summit Lake.
The first store operated out of a log cabin the men had constructed for their first winter on the homestead in 1903... ...Ten years later a false-front general store was built to accommodate the increase in business that Seebach and Huble were enjoying...
...Seebach & Huble General Merchandising officially reopened to the public on July 20, 1997. The Store was reconstructed based on historic photographs, diary excerpts, and the recollections of the Huble children. Today the General Store sells a wide variety of old-fashioned candy, breakfast and lunch items from the barbeque, and a unique selection of locally crafted goods.
From The Huble Homestead
