Description of Historic Place

The Pettipas House is located at 9707 Highway #4, Monastery, Nova Scotia. It is situated on a site overlooking Tracadie Harbour. The building and land are included in the municipal designation.

Heritage Value

The Pettipas House is valued for its 100-year association with the Pettipas family, of which three generations owned the property, passing from Michael to son Benjamin to Benjamin Jr. It is valued also for its history as the "Willow Inn", a bed and breakfast serving a stagecoach stop operated by the Pettipas family. In more recent years (1955-1967) the name of the property became "Skokleigh Tourist Home" and was operated by Dr. L.A. and Mary Rostant. This house has long provided accommodation and respite to the traveling public.

It is notable that the Pettipas House was the scene of a murder that took place in 1860. Newspaper reports of the day state, "Michael Potty, Way Office Keeper at Tracadie, was lodged in the County jail this morning charged with murdering one of his neighbours, a young man named John Delory". A coroner’s inquest was held with a verdict of guilty pronounced.

The Pettipas House is valued as a good example of vernacular architecture. Originally the house was a 3/4 Cape Style home with two windows interrupted by a door and a window on either side. In the basement, the beams make it evident that an addition was made to conform to the Greek Revival Style. The five-bay symmetrical facade has a distinctive vestibule with pediment entablature. The entrance features a fanned transom and sidelights. Above the entrance is a dormer with palladium window and sidelights. The corners are accentuated with pilasters and return eaves add decorative relief. The exterior is sheathed with clapboard and the roof has wooden shingles. The kitchen forms a tee on the rear of the house and believed to have been a separate structure that was attached to the main house sometime after construction. A coin dated 1824 was discovered by the current owner in the pocket of a brace beam during recent renovations.

Source: Registered Heritage Property file no. 203, Municipality of the County of Antigonish

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Pettipas House include:

- five-bay facade with six over six windows;
- front vestibule with overhead fanned transom and sidelights;
- dormer with palladium window and sidelights;
- historic materials and construction as evident in the building style and form.