Old Forsyth Homestead destroyed

     The old Forsyth homestead at 187 Dock Road in the community Union (between Elmsdale and Alberton) was destroyed in April 2019 by a "control burn" by the local fire department.
     I took these photos on Apr. 11, 2004 from the road before the leaves came onto the trees - the house was quite a distance from the road.
     The 1880 Meacham's Atlas of PEI shows John Forsyth Jr. living here with 104-acres.
     The 1928 Cummin's Atlas of PEI shows John W. Forsyth living here with a bit more acreage. It notes his wife, Martha Minnetta Hodgson and their four daughters: Margaret, Jean, Mary and Dorothy. (Margaret never married; Jean married Lloyd Wilkie; Mary married Russell Lockerby; and Dorothy married Leslie Hardy).
     The last person to live in this house was Margaret Forsyth. I believe she passed away in the mid-1980s. She was the secretary for the Town of Alberton for many years. No one lived here following her passing. The contents of this house were sold. By chance I found a box of 1940's Christmas cards at Riverview Antiques and bought them.   

     This house displays two eras in architectural periods and style. The original house is the kitchen wing (left) to the rear of the main house (right) and was built in the "center-dormer style" in the 1850s. The main part of the house was built later, possibly around 1900 when a new generation might have taken over the homestead.