Description of Historic Place

The Marcel Vey Farm Yard Site is a Municipal Heritage Property situated on 60 hectares of land approximately 10 kilometres northwest of St. Benedict in the Rural Municipality of Three Lakes No. 400. The property features a two-storey barn, one-storey bungalow and a detached garage situated within a farmyard.

Heritage Value

The Marcel Vey Farm Yard Site is valued for its association with Marcelin and Victorine Vey. The Vey’s and their children emigrated from France in 1897 to take up a homestead in the North-West Territories. Arriving in Prince Albert by train, the Veys traveled overland and claimed a homestead on the present location more than a century ago. The Veys chose this location due to its close proximity to Shannon Lake, which would provide a bountiful supply of water for their planned mixed livestock farm. The farm remains in operation to this day.

The Marcel Vey Farm Yard Site is also valued for the design of the barn. Typical of many mixed livestock barns built at the turn of the twentieth century, this double-walled structure features a main level with stables on each side that are all easily accessible by a central corridor. The central corridor allowed the Veys to use a cart, wagon or farm machinery to milk, clean and feed their livestock. The barn also features a large hayloft accessible at either end by two large square doors, and a larger two-door chute at the very top of the building that allowed for hay storage in the extreme upper levels.

The site also contains a one-storey bungalow built in 1949, and detached garage constructed during the same era. Both of these buildings are typical examples of similar period buildings found on farms throughout rural Saskatchewan.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Three Lakes No. 400 Bylaw No. 1-2005.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of Marcel Vey Farm Yard Site resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that speak to the site’s association with the Vey family, such as the orientation of the barn, house and garage within the farmyard on the original homestead near Shannon Lake;
-those architectural elements of the barn that make it a representative example of mixed livestock barns built during the interwar period, such as its form, roof profile, central corridor, stables on either side, and the hayloft with accessible doors allowing for hay storage;
-the placement of the house and garage on the same site in close proximity to the barn.