Don Percy and his wife Barbara Hammond (a descendant of original settler William Baldwin) built a house here in the 1970s. It was expropriated in 1975, and eventually torn down.
In 1975, the Société d’aménagement de l’Outaouais (SAO) expropriated most of the land in the Meech Creek Valley, which still consisted of working farms, for a zoo that never materialized. The SAO was a regional provincial body, created in 1970, to promote economic development in the region. Some of its projects included marinas, recreational and industrial parks, and the Gatineau Airport. Provincial priorities changed, and it wound down its operation in July 1993, after which the National Capital Commission (NCC) made a land exchange with the Government of Quebec to include the Meech Creek Valley into the Gatineau Park.
A few buildings remain, and are leased by the NCC to tenants, but over time most of the structures have been destroyed or removed. Much of the land is still under hay, by arrangement with the NCC.
Recent view of Percy house, showing remains of foundation.
Percy house about 1970.
Percy house, 1970s.