Description of Historic Place

The Captain Joseph Hall House built c. 1881, is a two-and-one-half storey wooden structure with a brick foundation situated at the north side of the road that runs east-west through Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia. The building is located in the vicinity of other designated heritage properties in Granville Ferry, N.S. Both the building and the property are included in the municipal heritage designation.

Heritage Value

Overlooking the historic town of Annapolis Royal, N.S., the Captain Joseph Hall House, built c. 1881 in Granville Ferry, N.S., is valued as an impressive example of the Greek Revival style.

Oral history accounts indicate that the building was constructed under the direction of Captain Joseph Hall, master mariner, ship builder and merchant. Captain Joseph Hall’s lineage dates back to his great-great grandfather, John Hall, a New England Planter from Medford, Massachusetts, who settled in the region c. 1760. The building has found new purpose as a private residence and bed-and-breakfast inn, “A Seafaring Maiden”. The inn is named for one of Captain Joseph Hall’s daughters, Elizabeth Pritchard Hall, a skilled and adventurous mariner renowned in local nautical history, reputedly the first woman to captain a ship across the Atlantic Ocean, in 1870. The property remained in the Hall family until 1908; “A Seafaring Maiden” is co-owned by Captain Joseph Hall’s great-great granddaughter.

The two-and-one-half storey wooden structure has a brick foundation and a steep-pitched gable roof with return eaves and pilasters. There are heavy cornices over the windows and dentil moulding embellishing the eave lines. The open verandah features a temple pediment with decorative posts and balustrades. Also in evidence is a two-storey tall push-out with recessed windows at the side of the house. The north side of the building exhibits small windows and there is a large addition at the rear.

The Captain Joseph Hall House, Granville Ferry, N.S., is a valued cultural icon representative of the region’s bygone fishing and shipping industry. The heritage value of the property lies in the longevity of its presence in Granville Ferry, its aesthetically noteworthy and solidly crafted structural components and its historic associations with the seafaring industry and its people. The well-preserved state of the building is evidenced by a timely commitment to heritage preservation thereby contributing to the continuity of the historic streetscape.

Source: Heritage Property File no. OIBNS00302, Municipality of the County of Annapolis, 752 St. George Street, Annapolis Royal, N. S., B0S 1A0

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Captain Joseph Hall House that are associated with its modified Greek Revival style include:

-two-and-one-half storey wooden structure with brick foundation;
-steep-pitched gable roof with return eaves and pilasters;
-heavy cornices over the windows;
-dentil moulding embellishing the eave lines;
-open verandah with a temple pediment, decorative posts and balustrades;
-two-storey tall push-out with recessed windows;
-large addition at the rear.