I bought this house in the summer of 1996 - newly painted stark white!
The home was known as the George Earl Smith house - he and his wife moved in to Hunter River in the 1950s from New Glasgow, PEI. George operated a blacksmith adjacent to the property. They lived here till the 1980s after which time the house was rented until I purchased it. Here they are standing to the front right of the house.
The house is a rare cross-gable style house and built around 1905 according to mortgage deed research. My research, of which information is sketchy, has led me to believe the building/house was the mill office for the grist and saw mills and electric light plant operations at the dam below. Lefuta Wood bought the property and mills in the 1920s - he lived nearby in Breadalbane. During my renovations (of which nothing could have been achieved without the dedicated work of Arnold Smith) I discovered a few clues - the date 1937 written on a roof rafter; a 1937 car license plate found between the walls; evidence a stove with chimney once sat where my stair and landing are now; the living room has horizontal hardwood around the walls but stops 18" above the floor - possibly there was a built-in bench here and removed when the walls were gyproced. The entire upstairs is sheathed with boards (he owned the saw mill), no plaster at all, wallpaper was applied to the raw wood. Interesting and mysterious!
View from the rear.
Front - Winter 2011
Rear - photo taken from below at the bridge dam.
The original front door and my newly renovated porch.
Stair landing - to the left was a chimney hole through the wall.
My renovated kitchen cupboards - I had my brother cut holes in the basic flat plywood doors and put in wainscotting (glass in shorter units) all complete with new door pulls. I struggled with choosing a colour to paint them - I didn't want white, green beige, yellow - an interior design friend suggested "light pumpkin" - so it was trimmed with Island red clay coloured countertop and large new crown moulding. The backsplash tile and new flooring is to come.
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