Kim Tuckett Remembers Falcon Lodge

Recorded at the Kirkfield Museum, February 12, 2022
Interviewer: Ian McKechnie
Videography: Ekaterine Alexakis

Duration: 2:51

Kim Tuckett sitting in front of white wall. Text on screen reads: Kim Tuckett Granddaughter of Charlie and Daisy Faulkner; Owners of Falcon Lodge 1952-1969.

Kim Tuckett: Hi, I’m Kim Tuckett, and my grandparents bought the property, 

[Black-and-white photograph of Falcon Lodge main house. Two women are reclining in chairs in foreground with assorted tables and lawn chairs nearby. A pair of 1950s-vintage cars are parked towards the back of the house.] Text on screen reads: Falcon Lodge, main house.

KT: which was known as Falcon Lodge, in September ‘52. So the first, [uh], guest it was open June ‘53, and they rented the cabins right through to ‘69. It had a large lodge house, 

[Black-and-white photograph of Falcon Lodge main house, Cabin 1, and Cabin 2. Two wooden chairs are on the lawn in the foreground, and three 1950s-vintage cars are parked in the background.] Text on screen reads: Far left: Lodge House, Centre: Cabin 1, Far right: Cabin 2.

KT: [uh], it had three bedrooms downstairs and

[Black-and-white photograph of Cabin 1, with door and window ajar. Bed and chair are visible through open door.] Text on screen reads: Cabin 1.

KT: four upstairs; had to have five smaller cabins on the property, it had two outhouses which we named Adam and Eve, and [um], my grandparents, my grandmother used to cook meals in the main lodge house for everybody on a cookstove. There was only hydro, [uh],

[Black-and-white photograph of Daisy and Charlie Faulkner in cedar-strip boat on lake, with cabin visible on the shore in the background.] Text on screen reads: Daisy and Charlie Faulkner in cedar strip boat.

KT: in the lodge house. Monday was always wash day, and she had a wringer washer; we’d have to do it outside, and she had these metal buckets that we had to lug water up from the lake and heat on the cookstove. Wash day was always an event. 

[Black-and-white photograph of Charlie Faulkner on laundry day. Sheets hang from a clothesline in the background, above a 1950s-vintage car. A man walks towards a gate in the centre of the scene, while a woman on the right is poised to cross the dirt lane.] Text on screen reads: Charlie Faulkner on laundry day.

KT: My grandfather used to hang lines, you know, like rope, from tree to tree, and that’s where the sheets dried, and we’d have to go make all the beds. 

[Black-and-white photograph of Charlie Faulkner with guests in cedar-strip motorboat at dock] Text on screen reads: Charlie Faulkner and guests.

KT: You know, 46 was the only highway 

[Black-and-white photograph of Charlie Faulkner and guests making their way through the water in cedar-strip motorboat. Charlie, attired in a captain’s hat, is holding a paddle. Two other guests recline in chairs on the shore, in the background.] Text on screen reads: Charlie Faulkner and guests.

KT: that went through this area at the time. If there was a vacancy sign, people stopped to see if they, what vacancies were available, and that’s how they would get their business. You know, there’s was all kinds of people. There was single guys that come up just…Initially, it was a hunting

[Black-and-white photograph of Charlie Faulkner holding a catch of fish on a dock] Text on screen reads: Charlie Faulkner.

KT: and fishing lodge, so, you know, they would come up to hunt and fish,

[Black-and-white photograph of Charlie Faulkner, in captain’s hat, holding a fish outside of cabin] Text on screen reads: Charlie Faulkner.

KT: but, [um], there was also those families…Oftentimes, they would come for a weekend, and then the parents would go back to the city and leave their kids for the week. My grandmother I think charged two dollars a week,

[Black-and-white photograph of Aunt Terri with children in lake] Text on screen reads: Aunt Terri and guests.

KT: or something for the kids, 

[Black-and-white photograph of children playing at a table beneath a large umbrella outside of Falcon Lodge main house. A bicycle, cabins, cedar trees, and assorted chairs are visible in the background.] Text on screen reads: children playing at Falcon Lodge.

KT: and then my Aunt Terri would have to entertain them. At night, after dinner, we used to have bonfires if the weather was good, and we, you know, we’d take turns, 

[Black-and-white photograph of Falcon Lodge main house with slide in foreground, surrounded by assorted chairs; table and umbrella; and cabins.] Text on screen reads: Falcon Lodge, main house.

KT: everyone pick a song, we’d sit in a circle, and we’d all sing the songs. 

[Black-and-white photograph of Falcon Lodge main house. Two women are walking past the house and assorted lawn furniture. 1950s-vintage car is visible among trees in the background, as is a cabin.]

KT: If we didn’t know them, people would teach them to us, and then we’d all know them and we’d all sing them…And then my grandmother would hand out marshmallows at the end – limit three, never got more than three – and then up the hill to the outhouse and into bed. 

[Black-and-white photograph of a smiling Daisy Faulkner relaxing in a lawn chair. Cabins, assorted lawn furniture, and a 1950s-vintage car are visible in the background.] Text on screen reads: Daisy Faulkner.

KT: And then the adults would sing grown-up songs and, [uh], 

[Black-and-white photograph of Falcon Lodge taken from out on the water showing guests; docks; assorted lawn furniture; trees, and a 1950s-vintage car in the distance.]

KT: so they would dance out there and continue on the night. Yep, that was a lot of fun.