Chester Municipal Heritage Society
133 Central st B0J 1J0 Chester, NS, Canada

Please note this is not on the island but in Chester.

Mulgrave House corner of Duke and Union Streets, Chester NS Mulgrave House corner of Duke and Union Streets, Chester NS In the 1820s David Whitford, who married Susan Millett of Chester Grant, built the Mulgrave as a hotel. More like a large colonial cottage, it was a four- story structure, including the basement where the kitchen with its great fireplace was located. There was also a built- in brick oven and two large wooden tubs for mixing bread. Each tub held 25 or mor...Continue reading

saw mills on the Windsor Road, Route 14

Lovett House- Union and Duke Streets, Chester (now the site of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 44) The Lovett house built as a commercial hotel in 1823 by Mr. ...and Mrs. Amos Lovett it was operated by the family until 1929. It was the Stagecoach stop from Halifax and Windsor. The four horses and the coach were stabled for the night, across the street in a large barn owned by the stagecoach driver. A new era in the history of Chester began around 1850 when the Americans discovered its enchanting setting, refreshing climate and good hotels. The top driveway of the Lovett House contained a long row of smaller sheds for protecting carriages and animals from the weather. (image 1) The Lovett house was noted for its good food, homemade bread and pies a nice, Florence Lovett, supervised countrywomen who prepared the food. The Lovetts also decided they should expand across the street was a large house called, Castle of Folly, built by an Englishman, John Symond. The large living room decorated with hand carved wood provided an attractive setting for dances and parties as well excursions from Bridgewater or other towns, often with a band to entertain them, would come for a bountiful meal and speeches. (image 2) They also purchased a house, White Cottage , (image 3) opposite the Annex on the corner of Duke and Union Streets, from Mr. Thickpenny, to accommodate the overflow travellers. There were many activities for the summer guests a boat with a local captain was often engaged for the season so that the guests, with lunch baskets packed at their hotel, could sail to an island for a picnic, dig clams, bathe in the sea, lie on the beach or sit on the rocks. The hotel also supplied sailboats, row boats and canoes in which entire families set off. There were riding horses and tennis courts. From about 1873 to 1877 the Chester brass band put on outdoor concerts. In 1889 , tourists traveled to Yarmouth by steamer from the United States, took the train to Mahone Bay by way of Middleton and then transferred to the steamer Carrie for the brief voyage to Chester. (image 4) This continued until 1908 three years after the arrival of the Halifax and Southwestern Railway at Chester. Hoteliers , like the Lovetts, sent horse drawn carriages to meet the trains with their incoming guests. The majority of the furniture in the Lovett House was made by Standford’s Furniture Company on Stanford Lake Road. The dinner ware was rather heavy crockery in colours of blue and yellow. Samples of these are located at Lordly House Museum. Eventually the Lovett House was sold to the Wurts family who ran it during the Second World War and later the Butler Branch 44 bought the building and used it as the local legion hall until the new building was erected in 1964. The two cannons were part of the village fortifications. It was torn down when the Legion Branch built a new hall in the space reserved for guest stables away from the edge of Duke Street. The Annex was demolished shortly after. Today the site of the Annex is the location of a kit house, that had belonged to Marcus Schnare on Queen Street. It was dismantled and moved to this location and renovated. Today it is a private home. Before it was demolished the Legion branch met in the building as did the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.