Ancestral Roofs

"In Praise of Older Buildings"

Monday, January 21, 2013

Happy Bicentenarians

16 Orchard Street (before 1800)



A correspondent, whose heart is clearly with the homes of the c.18 in Maritime Canada, sends links regularly to images of venerable early homes of eastern Canada. Some are doing very well thank you...other reports are obituaries.

top, across the bay: Christian Ernst House (1765)


Today I was browsing photos of our wander round Mahone Bay a couple of years ago - yearning for a sunny summer day, for a bit of travel, for a look at some old houses.






photo of Christian Ernst house - borrowed from
 Coastal Winds Realty website listing









Thought I'd share these in case you're in the same frame of mind.
Hyson House (1800)

2 comments:

  1. Oh, God love ya. And on a cold snowy day, no less. (Mexico, where are you now ?). Its funny you bring this up b/c I was thinking about these older structures last night. A few years ago I had made a running tally (nerd alert !) of extant NS structures that predated the coming of the Loyalists. When that list approached a hundred properties, I stopped adding to it. There are more, probably, and the number of all 18th c. structures might approach 300 or more. One of my favourites is Wisteria Cottage in Chester, from the 1760's. On this property during the American Revolution, a group of women once dressed as soldiers to thwart an imminent attack from the enemy just offshore. They slung brooms over their shoulders and marched around, knowing the Americans were just far enough away to not know the difference:

    http://museum.gov.ns.ca/imagesns/html/40510.html

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  2. Wisteria Cottage....clearly no shrinking violets there. On my list for next trip east!

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