Monday, July 23, 2007
A cozy night's sleep
It was dark and foggy when we arrived at the cottage tonight. Sharon, Catherine and I were anxious to spend our first night here. I lit a fire in the big wood stove and in no time the kitchen was warm and cozy. Catherine crawled into her little bed under the stairs, beside the stove. Sharon took the cot in the kitchen and I slept in the first little bedroom. We all read for a short while before drifting off to sleep. It's totally dark out here in the country and the silence is a wonderful change from the city. All I can hear is the rustle of the wind through the leaves outside.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Poking around the Bradley property
I'm on my way to Australia now - slipping along the rim of the night over the Pacific ocean. I'm looking forward to the visit but I'm really thinking about the Bradley house. On Tuesday I scarcely had time to take it all in. Now I have a chance to reflect on the pictures I took.
The Bradley property is beautiful today as it was in 1860. The land faces south toward a small cove - it's know locally as Bradley's Cove but on the nautical charts it has no name. On the other side of the cove are two islands - Hen and Hog island. These are classic Nova Scotia island names, as years ago, farmers often kept livestock such as chickens, pigs, sheep and cows, on nearby islands -it saved building a fence. There are dozens of islands with such names in Nova Scotia. Both Hen and Hog island are owned by the Nova Scotia government so they will never be developed.
The islands shelter the Bradley property from the full force of the Atlantic ocean. The shelter, plus the southern exposure and the deep anchorage made this a prime piece of land when it was first granted.
Traditionally, the people of the Eastern Shore had to juggle several jobs in order to scratch out a living. Typically the man worked in the in-shore fishery in the summer and worked in the forest in the winter. His wife ran the house, raised the children and managed the garden or small farm. Arable land was poor or non-existent along the Eastern Shore. The area has never been prosperous. Even the village of Tangier, the site of Canada's first gold rush, never became wealthy. As explained in Bill Bradley's book; a handful of investors, charlatans - or worse, developed the small mine claims with the benefit of local labour and slipped away with the gold.
The Bradley property was better than many for the Eastern Shore life style. The deep anchorage was a huge asset for a fisherman. Today there is a wharf with a road leading to it that has been there for generations. The hill the house sits on is a glacial moraine with good soil, albeit rocky, and good drainage. Drinking water has never been a problem on this property. The remains of an old stone-lined well can be found a ways down the slope from the house. Frank Grandy, the previous owner, told me they used the old well in the mid-eighties.
At one time the upper floor of the house was used for bedrooms, accessed from the kitchen by a steep set of narrow stairs. Today, the up-stairs is a rough attic. The lathe and plaster has all been stripped away. Large 4" x 6" rafters can be seen in the oldest part of the house, the 16' x 20' west side. On the east extension the rafters are hand-hewn. One clue that the two part of the house were built at different times is the disastrous intersection of the ridge lines - it was poorly designed with insufficient support and, as a result, sags terribly. There were lots of poor builders a hundred years ago just as there are today.
The Bradley property is beautiful today as it was in 1860. The land faces south toward a small cove - it's know locally as Bradley's Cove but on the nautical charts it has no name. On the other side of the cove are two islands - Hen and Hog island. These are classic Nova Scotia island names, as years ago, farmers often kept livestock such as chickens, pigs, sheep and cows, on nearby islands -it saved building a fence. There are dozens of islands with such names in Nova Scotia. Both Hen and Hog island are owned by the Nova Scotia government so they will never be developed.The islands shelter the Bradley property from the full force of the Atlantic ocean. The shelter, plus the southern exposure and the deep anchorage made this a prime piece of land when it was first granted.
Traditionally, the people of the Eastern Shore had to juggle several jobs in order to scratch out a living. Typically the man worked in the in-shore fishery in the summer and worked in the forest in the winter. His wife ran the house, raised the children and managed the garden or small farm. Arable land was poor or non-existent along the Eastern Shore. The area has never been prosperous. Even the village of Tangier, the site of Canada's first gold rush, never became wealthy. As explained in Bill Bradley's book; a handful of investors, charlatans - or worse, developed the small mine claims with the benefit of local labour and slipped away with the gold.
The Bradley property was better than many for the Eastern Shore life style. The deep anchorage was a huge asset for a fisherman. Today there is a wharf with a road leading to it that has been there for generations. The hill the house sits on is a glacial moraine with good soil, albeit rocky, and good drainage. Drinking water has never been a problem on this property. The remains of an old stone-lined well can be found a ways down the slope from the house. Frank Grandy, the previous owner, told me they used the old well in the mid-eighties.At one time the upper floor of the house was used for bedrooms, accessed from the kitchen by a steep set of narrow stairs. Today, the up-stairs is a rough attic. The lathe and plaster has all been stripped away. Large 4" x 6" rafters can be seen in the oldest part of the house, the 16' x 20' west side. On the east extension the rafters are hand-hewn. One clue that the two part of the house were built at different times is the disastrous intersection of the ridge lines - it was poorly designed with insufficient support and, as a result, sags terribly. There were lots of poor builders a hundred years ago just as there are today.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Creaking floors, glittering cove
Bradley House in Tangier seen from eastToday we took possession of an old house in Tangier, Nova Scotia. "Possession" is too strong a word, really. You can't possess an old house - it possess' you.
Living room with view of the coveBuilt around 1860, at least four generations of Bradleys lived here. It was sold out of the family in the late 1950s, but William (Bill) Bradley, the last boy to grow up in this house, build a house next door where he lived with his wife Eileen and together they raised seven children. Mrs. Bradley still lives next door, but her husband passed away about ten years ago. Aside from a large family, Bill left another legacy - a history of the village of Tangier. His manuscript was published recently by the Tangier Gold Mine Historical Society. It is available at http://www.collectionscanada.ca/.
Sharon and I spent this first day surveying the land and building. I was itching the get acquainted with the structure of the building. I knew it would be bad. The building inspector was astounded to hear that we planned to renovate the building, not replace with a new structure. He described the property as "a house in very poor condition on a spectacular lot".
I made measurements of the house and took some forensic photos in the cellar and attic. I will study these more carefully during a business trip to Australia in just a couple of days. As a house warming present, Sharon gave me a copy of "Renovating Old Houses" by George Nash. This book is a classic on the architecture and construction of old houses. I can tell I'm going to make good use of it.
Celebrating our new old houseSharon and I celebrated this new twist in our lives with lobster and wine. We enjoyed our first sunset in Tangier before returning home along the winding coastal road.
Sunset, Tangier, Nova Scotia
Sunday, July 1, 2007
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