The History of Bailey House

01 · The land and estate

Before the present house

French settlement at Port-Royal began in 1605 and was re-established on a permanent basis in 1610 under Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt. Farms, homes and trading interests extended along the sheltered Annapolis Basin and river.

The precise history of this parcel cannot be traced continuously to those first years: early land records are incomplete, and much of the seventeenth-century documentary record has been lost. The property lay within the historic Seigneury of Port-Royal and, by the later seventeenth century, formed part of an estate associated with Alexandre Le Borgne de Belleisle and Marie de La Tour. A manor stood on the larger estate nearby.

Owners included members of the Duvivier family, Samuel Douglass, Captain Edward How and, by 1783, Joseph Totten, a merchant from Westchester County, New York, who came to Nova Scotia during the American Revolution. Each generation inherited a prominent position on the town’s principal street, facing the river.

02 · From Port-Royal to Annapolis Royal

A town shaped by the water

British forces captured Port-Royal in 1710 and renamed it Annapolis Royal in honour of Queen Anne. The town remained Nova Scotia’s capital until Halifax was founded in 1749.

Its importance later diminished, but the fort remained, ships continued to use the river, and merchants did business along Saint George Street. Annapolis Royal settled upon its early landscape rather than growing over it; much of its history can still be understood on foot.

03 · The Georgian house

Built for a life on the Basin

Two official heritage records give differing construction dates: one circa 1770 and the other 1815–1820. Land transfers and the house’s Federal and Regency details point to around 1817, after the property passed from the Totten estate to James Robertson and Charlotte Williams.

James appears to have prospered through War of 1812 privateering; Charlotte’s brother, Sir Fenwick Williams, later became the last royal Governor of Nova Scotia before Confederation. The house’s restrained five-bay façade, central entrance, low hipped roof and intact interior plan express the Georgian tradition shared by New England and the Maritimes. Original mantels, mouldings and doors survive.

Its distinction lies in proportion, symmetry and restraint.

Bailey House faces the Annapolis Basin, opposite the site of what became one of the town’s largest private wharves. For a merchant family, the river was as practical as it was beautiful.

04 · The Bailey years and visitors

A house that welcomed travellers

In 1837 the house passed to Elizabeth Bailey, widow of Thomas Bailey and daughter-in-law of the Reverend Jacob Bailey. Census records suggest she may have been receiving travellers here as early as 1826. Widowed with three daughters, she made the house an elegant boarding establishment; later, her daughters continued the tradition.

Known locally as “Marm Bailey,” Elizabeth became remembered for her moose-muffle soup, preserved by Parks Canada as part of the region’s culinary history. Thomas Chandler Haliburton was among the figures associated with the house.

Local tradition says Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, attended a ball at Bailey House in 1794. His visit to Annapolis Royal is well established; if the present house dates to around 1817, the ball would have taken place in an earlier house on the estate. The story is interesting, but the distinction matters.

05 · Decline and preservation

What survived, and what was kept

By the early twentieth century, the boarding-house era had ended. The house was divided among multiple households and entered a period of decline. In the 1940s, Suzanne Haliburton began a new period of stewardship, rescuing it from deterioration and caring for its historic fabric. Later owners continued that work.

The square Georgian plan remains readily understood. Original architectural details are still in everyday use; private ensuite bathrooms were added discreetly around the turn of the twenty-first century. Bailey House was recognized as a Provincial Heritage Property in 1991.

06 · A house still in use

History remains part of the day

Bailey House is neither a museum nor a reconstruction of one historical moment. Antiques, portraits and traditionally made furnishings span several periods, as they do in old houses shaped by successive generations.

The furniture is used. Guests read beside old tables, take breakfast in the dining room and walk through the same central hall that has organized the house for generations. Modern comforts have been introduced where they matter, while the underlying character has been allowed to remain.

Four centuries of history surround Bailey House. More than two centuries of domestic life have shaped the house itself.

Its appeal lies not in having remained unchanged, but in having changed remarkably little.