The town of Dorchester in the southeast of New Brunswick is the last place that Miriam Andrews hopes to finish.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” said the native of the United Kingdom.
But all that changed after he met New Brunswicker Stephen Trites while both lived in British Columbia. The couple joined their love for the old houses and soon began to look for a historical property to renew and do their own.
“We are inspired by many of the Chateaus and the historical houses of the European type,” said Andrews. “And we were like ‘Where in Canada we found an old house?'”
Andrews and Trites found their fixer in 2019. It was an abandoned property of 27 rooms located between mature trees in Dorchester.
After flying around the country to see it, they immediately made an offer. In a matter of months, the couple left behind their lifestyle on the west coast to begin the east.
Historical past
It turns out that the Georgian mansion of 1840 in two -story ruins came quite past.
It was built for Sir Albert Smith, a former New Brunswick prime minister, and his wife Lady Sarah Smith. As Andrews discovered in his investigation, Smith had a curious role in the history of Canada.
Smith served in the Leonard Tilley cabinet, who later became the father of the Confederation. Smith opposed the Confederation and became leader of the advanced, defeating Tilley two years before Canada’s domain in 1867.
Smith could not see that the Dorchester area benefited from joining the new provinces union, said Andrews.
“It was a rich part of New Brunswick and a great center.”
It was not the prime minister for a long time, and despite his anti-confederation posture, Smith found a place in federal politics. Under Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie, he became Minister of the Navy and Fisheries. After successfully negotiating an agreement that required the United States to pay access to the fishery of the East Coast of Canada, Smith was recognized for its service.
“Albert Smith was the first person in New Brunswick to be appointed by Queen Victoria,” he said. “Due to that deal, he was named Knight.”
Lady Sarah Smith, who was much younger than her husband, lived in Dorchester’s house for another 40 years after her death. The farm finally went to her granddaughter, who sold her and donated the money to Mount Allison University.
In later years, the provincial government used it for social housing before it was bought by a religious organization. The house was on the market for five years before Andrews and Trites bought it.
The property was originally called Woodlands. However, in honor of the first lady of the house, the couple decided to change the name of Lady Smith Manor.
Love work
One of the couple’s first projects was to create a private life space before addressing other parts of the property. To save costs, they have done much of the work themselves.
“We make all the plaster panels, we take out all the plaster, we make all the isolation, we make all the ornaments of the painting,” he said. “In those six years that we have been here, we only took Christmas free day every year, so every day we only worked on something.”
Despite the many hours of hard work, said Andrews, renewing an old house has brought some interesting rewards, such as finding hidden treasures.
“We found many bottles of alcohol in the attic, under the floor, someone hides them,” he said. “We found a prescription bottle of a doctor in sackville.”
Today, almost all rooms have been renewed to their old glory, including a music room that has a square piano of 185 years. The piano doesn’t work anymore, but Andrews saw value to keep it.
“So the story tells, the piano was built in 1840, which is approximately at the same time as the house was built. This is the only piece here that was in the house when we moved that we kept. Inside, everything is hand painted in the upper part of the interior.”
Although Lady Smith Manor’s renewal has been a love job, she has also been part of a larger plan that the couple has had for the property.
The farm has become a picturesque location for weddings, artisan markets, reading clubs and teas of the afternoon. Events like these help pay the maintenance and maintenance of the house.
The mansion also has two invited suites that visitors can rent. The rooms offer a mixture of modern comforts, such as heated floors and towels, and traditional decoration, such as chimneys, vintage candlesticks and a claw bathtub saved from a local farm.
“The guy who sold it to us has now happened sadly,” said Andrews. “This was the bathtub I used when I was a baby.”
An ancient English -style tavern called, the thirst for whippet has been added, with a decoration that is a mixture of red brick, dark wood beams and centenary room seats that would make you ask you if you are in Dorchester, NB or in Dorchester, United Kingdom.
“In the past, there was a pub in each town and that is where everyone gathered, where meetings were held and people connected,” he said. “And he will return to that connection again.”
If Lady Smith Manor is known as a destination where the community can meet and experience a piece of New Brunswick’s story, said Miriam Andrews, then her hard work has been worth it.
“We always knew that what we were doing and what we were creating was for other people … We want you to feel that this is your home away from home.”
