Our Story
Welcome to the historic MacDonald House! Established in 1949 and still going strong :)
The MacDonald House Association Mandate:
~ manage space for local commercial businesses and educational facilities
~ manage facilities for visitors to the Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia area
~ provide a landmark to the area
~ utilize the facilities for tourism and recreation
The following businesses can be found here and are open year round:
BASEMENT
Kanon Beach Wind & Surf
http://kannonbeach.com/
FIRST FLOOR
New cafe coming soon! Details to TBA.
Open View Preschool
http://openviewpreschool.com/
Fancy Lucky Seaside Shoppe: Art & Locally Handmade Craft
https://www.facebook.com/FancyLuckyVintage
SECOND FLOOR
Fancy Lucky Seaside Shoppe: Vintage & Pre-Loved Fashion + Locally Handmade Products
https://www.facebook.com/FancyLuckyVintage
THE INTERESTING HISTORY OF MACDONALD HOUSE...
Beatrice and Irving MacDonald started to build the house in 1947 and completed it by 1949. The house belonging to Irving's father Charles, once sat on the West side of the driveway of the present MacDonald House. Upon the completion of the home of Irving and Beatrice in 1949, Charles home was rented and later moved to the West Lawrencetown Road.
The MacDonald family had four children, Donald, Roland, his twin Rhoda, and Spencer. Irving, Beatrice and Roland lived on the first and second floors, while Spencer and his wife Dot, lived on the third floor.
Irving MacDonald ran a sand and gravel business, and housed dump trucks in the basement of the house. A Post Office, originally located in Charles home and later moved to MacDonald House, operated in the building until March 1959.
Built in 1852, across the road from the MacDonald House location stood the MacDonald Hotel. It was operated by Irving's older sister May. It was very well appointed and successful. It even had its own generator. The Hotel burned down in the mid 1950's after a grass fire was started and soon got out of control. The only building left was the generator shed which was visible for many years in the field north of MacDonald House.
On the east side of MacDonald House stood the Old Calvin United Church. The cement foundation is still visible.
The United Church on MacDonald Hill, Lawrencetown Road, was opened on September 25, 1853. Many times when the church furnace went out in the cold winter, the congregation held their Sunday service in the United Church Community until it was destroyed by a fire in 1965.
The MacDonald family lived here until 1979. After Irving MacDonald passed away, the house was sold to the Province of Nova-Scotia and the Province leased it to the MacDonald House Association. The Association was formed in 1979 and incorporated in 1984. Funds for the upkeep of the house are generated from tenants and fundraisers.
The second floor of the house was rented out in the 1980's to N.S. Sports and Recreation in partnership with the Red Cross. As a result, the Nova Scotia Life Guard Service billeted life guards there. During an exchange program, highly skilled lifeguards from the city of Wollongong, Australia helped out during their winter. Also in the 1980's, for a period of about 5 years, a room in the art gallery housed a radio relay to the offshore sponsored by Texaco.
There has been a pre-school in the building since 1980. It runs from September until June each year. The following shops are open for business year round: a tearoom/cafe and an art gallery/craft shop on the first floor; a vintage/recycled fashion boutique on the second floor, and a surf shop in the basement.
