Description du lieu patrimonial

The Noble House Bed and Breakfast is a large, impressive 1 ½ storey vernacular ell farmhouse clad in wood shingles with a verandah. Surrounded by manicured gardens located in the north shore rural community of Malpeque, Prince Edward Island, the well-maintained house overlooks beautiful Darnley Basin and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Valeur patrimoniale

This pre-Confederation home dates from approximately 1860 and was built by or for Malcolm MacGougan (1785-1883) and his wife Catherine MacCallum (1789-1868). Malcolm was the grandson of John and Mary MacGougan, who emigrated to PEI in 1771 from Scotland aboard the "Edinburgh". John MacGougan built a large Island sandstone house not far from this home, now since demolished. The Stewart family encouraged emigration from Campbelltown, Kintyre, Scotland to Malpeque and the Lot 18 area in effort to fulfil the terms of the approximately 10,000-acre land grant to Lt. Col. Robert Stewart. Malpeque or Princetown Royalty is one of the most historic areas of Prince Edward Island. Many Scottish families who emigrated in 1770 on the "Annabella" settled here. Plans for the development of Princetown as the capital of Prince County did not materialize as expected. The 1798 census for Princetown records less than 200 residents.

This large family home is located on 8 acres of the original MacGougan homestead which at one time included numerous outbuildings for a busy farming operation, arranged to protect the farmyard and house from north shore winds. Remnants of hawthorn bushes imported from Scotland used to form fences around the farm can still be found. Oral tradition maintains that the remains of an Acadian homestead including a well and dyke were once visible south of the house.

Several generations of the MacGougan family beginning with Malcolm and Catherine MacGougan raised large families and farmed here. Malcolm and Catherine returned from Miramichi, New Brunswick where they lost everything in the 1825 fire. Their son, Duncan and other family members travelled on the "Fanny" to California to try their luck in the gold rush. Duncan later returned to PEI and established a home nearby. A large trunk, possibly owned by Duncan, or perhaps John MacGougan, the progenitor of the family, was built into the attic of the home.

The charming home, built at the height of PEI's shipbuilding era, retains much of its original architectural heritage character including many fine interior details, some reminiscent of the interior of the Yeo House at Green Park. Some interior work was completed on the house in the 1920s and more recently windows were replaced and an addition to accommodate a great room and private bedroom was added. A section of the house used as a summer kitchen, and later to accommodate US tourists, was removed prior to the modern addition.

The house and farm property passed through successive generations of the MacGougan family until the current owners acquired it in the 1990s. The Nobles have lovingly converted the home to a Bed & Breakfast / Inn of Distinction, known as Noble House Bed and Breakfast. Great care has been taken to maintain the heritage character and fine attributes of the home.

Noble House B&B continues to be valued as an example of a fine vernacular farm residence, for its outstanding integrity and condition, its historical associations with early settlement patterns and connections with Scottish emigration and with the MacGougan family, a prosperous farming family. Noble House B&B has established itself as an important component in the Island's tourism industry and continues to be an important asset in the landscape of Malpeque.

Heritage Places Files, Dept. of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport & Culture, Charlottetown, PE
File #: 4310-20/N9

Éléments caractéristiques

The heritage value of the Noble House B&B is shown in the following character-defining elements:

- the scale and massing of the house
- the pitch and slope of the various rooflines
- the wood shingle cladding
- the size and placement of the multi-paned sash windows and doors
- the size and placement of lintels over the windows
- the verandah on the dormered section of the main house, with posts and gingerbread trim
- the wide eaves
- the transom light over the main door

Further contributing heritage character-defining elements:

- the picturesque location in the rural landscape of Malpeque
- the manicured lawns and gardens
- the extant original interior architectural features and original MacGougan family artifacts