Description of Historic Place

782 East Chezzetcook Road is a modest one-and-one-half storey Cape Cod style dwelling located in the community of East Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia. With a backyard view of Chezzetcook Inlet, the house is situated quite close to the road on an elevated plot of land between a recreation area and a private home. The designation extends to the building and the land it occupies.

Heritage Value

782 East Chezzetcook Road is valued for its association with rural life in its use as a homestead of early settlers of East Chezzetcook, its continuity of ownership and use by the Smith family and its use as a rural post office. It is also valued for its architecture.

The house was constructed in 1862 for Captain James Smith and his family. Smith married his wife Elizabeth Williams that year and built the original house on the land that was then owned then by his brothers, Dennis and John. James purchased the land from his brothers in 1873 and he served as the community postmaster from 1880 to 1894. At this time, local people referred to East Chezzetcook Road as Old Post Road.

In 1904, James deeded the house and the property to his son, Charles William Richard Smith. Richard and his wife Alice Grady raised their five children in the house and maintained the local post office there in an addition built on the south-west side of the house. Richard was postmaster from 1912 until his death in 1929. At this point Alice officially assumed the role and served as postmaster until 1940. The post office permanently closed in 1959. Alice continued to live in the property with her son Gerald and his family until she died in 1979. The house remained in the Smith family for 117 years. Descendents of the family still reside in the surrounding area today.

Architecturally, the house has changed little over the years. It is valued as a Cape Cod style dwelling, a popular style from the early nineteenth century. The Cape Cod is characteristically one-and-one-half storeys in height, of wood construction with low eaves and modest detailing. This house has unusually wide dormers with overhanging eaves. Several other homes in the vicinity showcase the same dormer style.

Source: HRM Planning and Development Services, 782 East Chezzetcook Road file.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of 782 East Chezzetcook Road include:

- three-bay façade;
- clapboard siding;
- steeply-pitched gable roof with no eaves overhang;
- two large dormers with overhanging eave on the front façade;
- centrally located brick chimney;
- two-over-two windows close to the eaves;
- small shed dormer on the rear façade;
- one storey addition with a low pitched roof, built to sloping ground.