Inside Pierre Berton’s Abandoned Estate | Forgotten Home of a Canadian Legend

What are you going to do with all this loot? Are you going to blow it in your old age? No, I've... just with my will. I'm going to leave all of this that you see, and my house, and half of all of my money to either the Writers Development Trust, which are now listed in the will, if they're still around, as a retreat for writers. I wrote... well, I've written 26 books here. I think it's a good place to work as a writer. You can get out and stretch your legs. There's a big house you can live in with your wife or girlfriend. And the other half? The other half to my kids. I want eight of them, so it won't be too much for them. I don't believe they should get too much. Pierre Burton was more than just a writer. He was a storyteller, a national voice, and a tireless advocate for Canadian identity. So this is the house that the business of writing built, isn't it? It didn't look like that when we started. There was no windows, there was no doors, not even a door in the bathroom. I wrote my first four books in orange crates to pay for the mortgage in this house, which seemed like a lot to me then. It wasn't very much. It was only $8,500. Boy, that was a huge sum in those days. Newspaper salaries in those days. Over the course of his life, he wrote more than 50 books, many of them chronicling the untold stories of Canada's past, from the building of the National Railway to the Klondike Gold Rush. As you can see, neat and tidy, everything carefully arranged. How much did you write today? I wrote 11 pages, which is the average of a rough copy. It's not a clean copy. I have to rewrite that about three or four times at least. Some sections get written 20 times. Born in 1920 in Whitehorse, Yukon, Burton grew up in the rugged Canadian north, which deeply shaped his passion for history. His career began in journalism, as a reporter for the Vancouver Sun and later a columnist and editor at Maclean's. But it was his move to television that made him a household name. He became a familiar face on CBC's Front Page Challenge, where he appeared for nearly 40 years. And I know that all Canadians don't overcook their food. Pierre says he married me because I like my steak rare. Well, that's not the only reason. He lived here with his wife Janet, and together they raised a family of eight children. Are you the guy who's got absolutely everything? You've got a family you're proud of, you've got work that you like to do and you're good at, and you make lots of money doing it. Anything you haven't got? Grandchildren. That's about all. And that you can't work at yourself? That I have no control over. I'd like to have them though. This house was not just his home, it was where ideas were born. Here, Burton wrote countless pages that would shape how Canadians understood themselves and their country. It was a place of solitude, creativity, and reflection. Pierre Burton wasn't only a historian, he was a fierce Canadian nationalist, a defender of public broadcasting, and a champion for preserving Canadian culture in the face of American influence. His works became required reading in classrooms across the country. I don't think you should spend too much time worrying about yourself or your future. If you live every day as if it were your last day, then your last day is probably going to be a pretty good one because one day is going to be your last. So I just take it as it comes. After his death in 2004, Pierre's cremated remains were scattered here at his home in Kleinburg. Pierre was survived by his wife and their eight children, along with 14 grandchildren. So we are on the property. There is a swimming pool back there. Maybe we'll hit the swimming pool on the way back through. But it's a nice, big, gorgeous property. I don't know who owns it. I don't know what the deal is here. But this house has been here forever like this, in very, very rough shape. So we're going to head on through here. And I'm trying to figure out where the heck the caboose was. And I didn't pass it on my way in. So hopefully we have better luck and we're able to find it. But here's the part where I thought it looked like Mr. Miyagi's house. Was it back here? Well, you can't really tell anymore because they have everything blocked off. But here, yeah. So this here reminded me of Mr. Miyagi's house in The Karate Kid. For some reason. So we said, let's clickbait the video and say that we found the Karate Kid film set of Mr. Miyagi's house. So many people commented on the video saying that it's not Mr. Miyagi's house. Mr. Miyagi's house was in California. It's not there anymore. Blah, blah, blah. Anyways. So here we are on the outside of Pierre Burton's house. Very interesting house. Very interesting layout of the house. And I'll just show you guys. Kind of goes back. You got this flagstone here. Interesting layout of the house. So hopefully we're able to get inside and maybe get a look. But like I said, I remember it being really dangerous when we were there. So why don't I take a walk and through it towards the woods and see if I can find the caboose. All right, guys, I think I spotted the train through the woods here. He had a very, very large property. Lots of different places for them to hang out. Here you've got this. So we've got some stairs here. And there's something up there. It's like a garden or something with a little... I don't know what you'd call that. A little arch you can walk through. And then down here, there's a barbecue. A stone barbecue down here. With seats made of railroad ties that you can just sit and have a fire and hang out. Super nice. Anyways, let's go find Pierre's caboose. There is a Pierre Burton museum here in town. So happy to see it doesn't look to have been vandalized. There it is. Yeah. Oh, it's got glasses broken. Yeah. Super cool, though, guys. I was so excited when we came here for the first time and get to see this place. Such a unique little thing to have in the middle of the woods here. And I understand from when I was doing my research about this that they had to bring in a massive crane to drop the caboose down. And they had to put the rails down to put it on. So they brought in actual rail lines and they brought in a crane and they dropped the caboose right down here on the property for Pierre. Hopefully it's open and you can go inside and see. It was many, many years ago. Let's see. Yes, it's open. OK, good. Here we go. So here we have it, guys. Pierre Burton's gift from his children in a caboose, a CN rail caboose. Because Mr. Burton was a trained fanatic. Nice little couch here. This side open too? Yeah, this side opens. So you can go see both sides here. See? And it's literally just in the woods here. Just hanging out in the woods. This is a shame. Broken glass. But again, I don't know who owns this property or who owns this caboose now or what. Or if anybody's going to sort of take responsibility for it and maybe do something with it. But anyways, what's up, guys? He would have had, looks like they had a wood stove right here. OK. Emergency bedding storage. Oil tank would have been here. And then you take the ladders up and you can sit up here. What's this? I don't know what this does. Doesn't seem to do anything. Where does this go? If you follow this. What does this do, guys? I have to know now. Where does this red string go? Oh, it goes up to the top. No clue, guys. No clue. Anyways, sit up there. Look both ways. Hang out, have a couple beers in your train. In your train car. That's fun. What's in here? The bathroom. I wonder if that is Mr. P.R.'s handwriting. That's an interesting bathroom. I didn't even look in there last time. OK. Let's go down here. About this caboose. Burton once said in an interview. We've got a CPR wooden caboose, but I didn't buy it. The kids got it from the CPR for me, but it was the most expensive present I've ever had. We had to hire a double crane and track layers to build some track for it. My wife Janet said, let's have bigger windows so we can enjoy the view. We found out the cars have a steel superstructure under the wood, and it was a hell of a job enlarging the windows. But we use it a lot. It's still got a pot-bellied stove, and we don't have to pay tax on it because it's on rails, and that means it's mobile, not a permanent building. All right, guys. Since we're here, and there was an open door into the house, we might as well go have a look and see how safe it is or unsafe it is inside the house. Let's go. I just don't know how much we're going to be able to see anyways, because there was a fire here once. I've got my flashlight here. OK. Here's the kitchen. Let me just see if my light's dark. It is. OK, here we go. Floor looking OK. Yeah, a lot of damage in here. Pretty much stripped down to the studs. A lot of windows, though, eh? Look at that. Could have had a lot of nice light in here. Fireplace. So many windows. What is this? Guys, who brought that here? Oh, man, it goes all the way down there. Yeah, OK. This is cool. Check out this bathroom. Hey, what's up, guys? Check out this wallpaper he has on his bathroom here. That's really cool. OK. I wonder if this was, like, a bar. Or maybe it was just a display case. OK. Taking our time here. This looks like it would have been a sunroof. A skylight. Skylight. So lots of natural light throughout this home. Nice stonework. Wow, what a shame. OK. Look at this wallpaper here. What a mess. Ceiling tiles, insulation. Walls ripped out. Check this little bathroom out here, eh? They had a bidet. OK. The toilet. Double sinks. Got that nice green. And what have we got here? Shower. Oh, a tub. That's a tub. With the skylight. Look at how nice the wall is. Compared to the rest of the house. This nice, bright wall. I really like that. That's nice. I don't even know where I am, in regards to the layout of the house. What's this, a sauna? Man, they had an indoor sauna. Sauna into the bathroom. This is definitely a sauna. Oh, there's a basement, too. OK. Oh, I bet you this was such a nice house. Probably super mid-century. Probably such cool furniture and stuff. I think it ends here. Another bathroom. There's another shower right there. So they had another bathroom. Wow. What a mess. Does this just go outside? Alright, let's see if the basement is even accessible. OK, so far so good. It's not flooded. OK. Alright. Here is a coat closet for fur coats and stuff. Laundry room. And then there's a wine cellar back here. Pierre Burton's wine cellar. Alright. Interesting stuff, guys. If you're into Canadian history, this is an interesting place. Photos. Storks, the tongs. Kabaya, kimono, scarves. Penny. Let's see. Cat jackets, Tibetan shoes. OK. So there's that. Did we go in here? No, we didn't go in here yet. Yellow curtains. Hey, what's up, guys? Another bathroom. Holy cow. This guy's got a lot of bathrooms. This place is a maze. There's the toilet. There's the sink. Back-to-back mirrors. Wow. A lot of bathrooms. What's this thing? Nothing. Nails sticking out. You've got to watch where you're stepping in here, guys. Yeah, this would have had such nice decorating. Man, this would have been a nice house. I think I've seen everything there is to see. I think it just goes outside. It wouldn't work anyway. Yeah, we did this room. And then the kitchen. Yeah, this is where we started. OK, let's go to the pool. They filled the pool in. But this is where it was. So here's the diving board. And then here's the edge of where the pool was. But it's been filled in. So there you have it, guys. A nice little slice of Canadian history on the Freaktography YouTube channel and Facebook. Hope you guys have enjoyed this. I wish I had known this the first time I was here, but now I know it, so that's why we're here. So we found the caboose, took a walk through the house, gave you guys a little bit of a history lesson on who Pierre Burton was and what his importance is and was to Canadian history. Hope you guys have enjoyed this one. Know how to do all the things. Like that video, drop me a comment down below. Have you ever met Pierre Burton? Does anybody who follows me, have you ever had a personal experience with Pierre Burton? Have you ever met him? Or have you read his books? Are you aware of him? Let me know in the comments down below if you guys are aware of Pierre Burton and his significance and importance to Canadian history. That's it. Drop a comment. Like the video. And if you're here for the first time and you're not subscribed, hit that subscribe button. Thanks, guys. Gotta go. Peace. And now it's time for a Monday Report Celebrity Tip. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome best-selling author, award-winning broadcaster, winner of the 1959 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humor, companion of the Order of Canada, and marijuana connoisseur, Mr. Pierre Burton. Hi. I'm Pierre Burton. Looking back on my career, you know, I cannot count the number of times a young man or a young woman has come up to me and said, Hey, Mr. Burton, what's the best way to roll a joint? Let me tell you, it's not that way. Put that down. We'll start over. First of all, you need a good rolling surface. May I suggest either the National Green or my latest book, Prisoners of the North. Avoiding novelty or colored paper, I prefer white paper to add to your mix. And being in Ontario, we always use hydroponic. So be sure to remove any twigs and seeds. Now, the way you distribute the mix will determine the shape of your joint. I prefer the classic cone-shaped joint. What the young people call a coner. Now for the tricky bit. Pick everything up, start in the middle, roll outwards, and let your thumbs do most of the work. When you have an even consistency, wrap the excess paper around the joint, wet the paper, and seal the joint. Excellent. Firm, but not too firm. Just the way I like it. And remember, Canada, it's the loose joints that tend to fall apart, leaving unsightly toque burns on your chairs or on your bow tie. It's a tragedy we all want to avoid, don't we? I'm Pierre Burton, and that's how to roll a joint. This has been a Monday Report Celebrity Tip.