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The North Hills Museum is now open for the 2008
season.
5065 Granville Road,
Granville Ferry
(902) 532-2168
Located in a circa 1764 farmhouse
on one of the most historic roads in Canada, North Hills Museum features
Georgian décor assembled by the late antiques collector Robert
Patterson. His collection of 18th century paintings, ceramics, glassware and
furniture is one of the finest in Canada. This charming house, which Mr.
Patterson left to the Nova Scotia Museum in his will, overlooks the waters of
the Annapolis Basin.
North Hills Museum is operated
jointly by the Nova Scotia
Museum and The Annapolis Heritage Society.
Open hours
June 1st - October 15th
Monday - Saturday 9:30 am until 5:30 pm
Sunday - 1 pm until 5:30 pm
Admission
- $3.00 Adults
- $2.00 Seniors
- $2.00 Children (ages six to 17; children
under six admitted free)
- $7.00 Families
History
Robert Pallen Patterson, the son
of a banker and a banker himself, retired in the mid-1950s to open an antique
shop in Toronto and concentrate on his passion for English furniture, ceramics,
silver and glass of the Georgian period (1714-1830). He formed a large personal
collection over the years, and in 1964 he purchased a small house in Granville
Ferry, Nova Scotia, to showcase it.
The property he bought was granted
to Benjamin Rumsey in 1764 and was known as the Rumsey Farm until the early
1800s. The Amberman family also owned the property for many years. When Mr.
Patterson bought it in 1964, it was, in fact, known as the Amberman house. He
renamed it North Hills, after the North Mountain, which rises behind the
property.
The original house was a small,
square, wood-framed structure. It faced south, overlooking the waters of the
Annapolis Basin, and there were only two windows on the north wall, out of
respect for the climate. Many changes have been made to the house during its
history; the two major additions were a one-storey summer kitchen on the west
wall, and a one-and-a-half storey extension on the east side. The original
fieldstone masonry of the dining-room chimney and the exposed brickwork flues
on the east wall upstairs remain. The original pine woodwork is retained in the
dining room mantelpiece and built-in cupboard - also the mantelpiece in the
adjoining room, used as a library. The long living room was re-designed in 1964
by Mr. Patterson to be in keeping with his collection - a Georgian style
mantelpiece was installed - and also a wooden cornice, adapted from a cornice
in the Bailey House in Annapolis Royal.
In 1974, the
house and furnishings were bequeathed to the Nova Scotia Museum. The collection
of furniture, ceramics, glass, silver and paintings has been retained in the
house, objects placed as they were when Mr. Patterson lived there. The
furniture in the house represents, particularly, three characteristic English
furniture woods - oak, walnut and mahogany. The silver gleams, the glassware
sparkles and the sunlight filters through the rosy red curtains in the living
room. Mr. Patterson would approve!
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