Description of Historic Place

The Cedars consists of a large, Carpenter Gothic style, two and one half storey wood framed house and its lot on the Main Street in the Village of Rexton.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of The Cedars resides in its association with Dr. Isaac Doherty, his advances in medicine and his care to most of the residents of Kent County in the mid to late 1800's.

Dr. Doherty was born in Kent County in 1831 and by 1853 he had graduated from the New York Medical College. He practised in Shediac until 1859 when he moved to Kingston (now Rexton) and became superintendent of the Richibucto Marine Hospital. He went on to build up his prosperous practise to be reportedly the largest in the county. The designated property was purchased by Dr. Doherty in July of 1859 and construction of the stately house started shortly thereafter. During his early years of practise Dr. Doherty is given credit for possibly performing the first cross-eyed deformity corrective surgery successfully and also for making advances in neurosurgery.

Source: Village of Rexton Local Historic Places File # 2004-15.

Character-Defining Elements

The character defining elements relating to location and context include:
- the building on its original site;
- the structure’s orientation facing the main street.

The character defining elements relating to the exterior of the structure include:
- gingerbread trim cut in the shape of a winding vine;
- small roof over front door facing Main Street giving the illusion it is small veranda;
- steep pitched gable roof;
- original window openings.