The book Under Sydenham Skies tells the story of a beautiful stone house in rural Ontario. Nestled at the edge of the world-famous Niagara Escarpment, the house was built in 1876 by hard-working Scottish immigrants, the Angus McArthur family. Under Sydenham Skies describes how three generations of the McArthur family lived in the house until bankruptcy drove them away in the early 30s.

Since 1970, the Baines family has transformed the house, established a beautiful garden, learned how to build fences, planted thousands of trees, grown familiar with rural customs, enjoyed local food and recipes, and developed an increased awareness of our debt to early settlers, and of the sacrifices imposed on First Nations. 

Sydenham is the name of the township where the house was built. The Hougues Magues is the name of the house.

Under Sydenham Skies was short-listed for the 2002 Edna Staebler award, the only award in Canada to recognize the genre of creative non-fiction. 

Last updated August 23, 2004, by Katja Ulm.
This website was initially prepared with the help of Dora Kuo.
Copyright 2002 - All rights reserved.