Next Door Photos
509 Iron Mine Rd. S., Lanark Highlands, Ont.
Asking price: $829,000
Property Taxes: $3,802 (2026)
Land Size: More than five acres
Listing agent: Ross Long, Greater Ottawa Realty Inc.
The Backstory
When you know what you want, it’s best to just grab it, because you don’t know when you’ll have a chance again.
Almost 20 years ago, Bob and June Taylor decided to buy a cabin in the woods about 40 minutes west of Ottawa, just days after they first saw it. That said, they had been searching for almost two years for the perfect downsizing opportunity as they prepared for retirement.
“We wanted a view, a long driveway in off the road, and if we couldn’t find a log home, we’d have to build one,” said Ms. Taylor. They also wanted to be close to their children and grandchildren, many of whom were living in Ottawa. Her previous home had been a more formal sort of place, a hundred-year-old brick house she filled with finds from her antique collecting. This time, she wanted rustic character and warmth. “I could not see us going anywhere into a modern-style home,” she said.
The house on Iron Mine Road checked those boxes.
“It wasn’t built in the 1800s, but it looked like it,” said Mr. Taylor, who said the home was constructed in the 1980s by a builder who disassembled and reassembled parts of an old timber barn for the main structure. As such, it has modern wiring and plumbing inside that rustic exterior. The couple selling it used it as a cottage, and with the Taylors living there full-time, it also became the rural getaway for the extended family.
“It’s been a staple for my kids and nieces and nephews,” said Lee Tamburano, son-in-law to the Taylors. “They fish in the summer, or ride down the lazy river.”
The five-acre property features 320 feet of riverfront, and all the grandkids have become experts at navigating the shallow but swift waters of the Mississippi River (a tributary of the Ottawa River, not connected to its famous namesake), which turns into rapids downstream. “They’ve been swimming in it since they were four or five years old,” he said. “About two minutes up the road, you can put your boats in the water, and it’s a 50-minute lazy river ride back to nana’s.”
Ms. Taylor loves to hear the house full of family: At Christmas, they turn all the bedrooms over to kids and grandkids and sleep in the bunkie. “My eldest is 16, the youngest is nine. There was no shortage of things to do here. It has really been a special spot for all of us,” said Mr. Tamburano.
The House Today
Ms. Taylor got her winding lane, as the house sits about halfway between the road and the river through the mostly uncleared land. There are dozens of 100-plus-year old trees in the bush, which opens up to a clearing with the log house.
At first glance, it could be a hunting lodge or forest-service headquarters, with dark, weathered timber, some of it just cladding but much of it the square-cut log walls of the structure. A porch tucked under the eaves of the roof wraps all the way around to the back of the house, where it connects to a three-season sunroom.
Just inside the front door is a bathroom with the washer and dryer as well as a shower (handy for rinsing off after a dip in the river), and past the foyer is the dining room/kitchen.
Wide-plank oak floors spread across the main level under walls that are a mix of raw log, wood plank and the occasional spot of drywall. The ceilings are all shiplap planking supported by chunky exposed beams.
The dining room can easily host a dinner party of 12 or more, and the kitchen prep space tucked around the corner is dominated by a large glass-fronted commercial display fridge (perfect for showing off baked goods). In recent years, they tucked a formerly detached bunkie onto the side of the house, giving this main floor a bedroom (Ms. Taylor said her 13-year-old granddaughter was sure it was for her exclusive use).
Through a Dutch door (the kind that is divided in half, sometimes also known as stable doors) on the other side of the dining room is the living room, a large space with a fireplace and a door to the side porch and sunroom.
Upstairs, there are three bedrooms tucked into the roof dormers. There is less exposed wood here and more drywall, but still plenty of windows. A bathroom with a soaker tub sits between the primary suite and the short hallway to the other bedrooms.
The Great Outdoors
Behind the house is a huge screened-in porch, which is where everyone spends most of their time in the warmer weather. “There’s a four-inch-thick Western cedar table out there; we eat out there all the time,” said Mr. Taylor. The 20- by 30-foot room is all timber, exposed beams and comfortable seating. It becomes the launch pad for adventures on the property.
In the mornings, the porch – with its rockers and hammocks – and the adjacent sunroom are a special place. “What’s cool is you can constantly hear the rush of the water, of the river. You sit out there have a coffee and let the sun hit you,” said Mr. Tamburano.
If you’re lucky, you might even get a sample of Ms. Taylor’s famous butter tarts, which she has been making for decades and has down to an art (she won’t tell you the secret, sorry).
“I’m getting to the point where I’m embarrassed by it,” said Ms. Taylor, with a note of pride. She’s been called upon to make her tarts in large batches for special occasions such as weddings and baby showers. “I did it for an 85 year old, I made 85 for him,” she said. Mr. Taylor chimes in on that story, reminding her they hosted that party and someone thought so well of her tarts that they tried to hide a whole wrapped tray up in the rafters of the shed, where he found them untouched later that year.
Just goes to show, if you really want something, you should enjoy it in the moment.