Stelmach's ancestral home now pioneer artifact at Ukrainian Village

A century-old home built by the pioneering grandparents offormer Alberta premier Ed Stelmachwill soon be on display at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Villageeast of Edmonton.

Four years ago, the homewas moved 50 kilometresfrom the Stelmach family homestead near the village ofAndrew to the museum, where it will serve as an interpretive centre.

After years of loving restoration, a ribbon cutting and a blessing of the Stelmach House Learning Centrewill take place at the open-air museum this weekend. The event is a sneak peek at the building, which will become a regular public exhibit at the museum in 2017.

Stelmach said he's "incredibly proud" that the home will now be a permanent addition to the museum.

"All of our family is very proud that the house my grandparents worked so hard to build will be on display," Stelmach said of the restored home.

"To the family, it represents the courage that Nykola and Dora had to leave Ukraine with virtually nothing to build a new life in Canada, and for this we are very thankful."

• Stelmach farmhouse moved to Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village

Stelmach's grandparents were among the first wave of Ukrainian immigrants toCanada, arriving in 1898.

They spent their first few years on the farmliving in a temporary sod house. They raised cattle and fowl, sold cream, wheat and eggs, and cleared the land.

And after a few years, construction on thelog home began.

Built in 1915, the two-storeylogstructure includes a kitchen, an expansive dining room and a towering hand-carved staircase, leading to three bedrooms on the upper floor ornate and spaciousconstruction for the day.

Stelmach said restoring the homestead to its former glory, and its relocation, took years of careful planning, craftsmanship and a fleet of heavy equipment,

Stelmach family homestead

12 years ago

Duration 2:07

The former premier donated his grandparents' home to the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village

Before it reached the museum in August 2012, thehouse was bound together and tarped, hoisted off its foundations, and lifted onto the back of a truck.

At the museum,rotting logs and boards were removed and reconstructed and the original hardwood floors were fully restored.

"That all had to be hand-sanded and polished, all that old paint and wallpaper had to be removed to get right down to the original plaster," Stelmachsaid during a Tuesday afternoon interview on CBC Edmonton's Radio Active.

"And a group had some fun in the kneading in all the clay with the straw to place the clay over the logs so they could add the new siding.

"It was quite the undertaking"

Stelmach saidSunday's sneak peakat the learning centre will be an emotional day for the entire family.

"It will inform, educate Albertans about the struggles, the challenges, the obstacles, that the early pioneers faced in settling in northeastern Alberta. Not only of Ukrainian descent, but Polish and German those that came to break the sod here.

"It will be a lasting legacy."

Stelmach was Alberta'spremier from 2006 until 2011.

The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village is 50 km east of Edmonton on Highway 16.