109 Hawthorne Street, c. 1881

109 Hawthorne Street was originally the residence of John McDonald, his wife and five children from 1881 to 1899. McDonald was a prominent local carpenter and house builder. He also owned and operated a saw mill at the head of Main Street which sold doors, sashes, lumber and woodwork. The original property was purchased from the Trotter family in May 1881 for $646; it was part of the vast Trotter "Hawthorne Farms".

This house, built in 1881, is evocative of Gothic Revival with its steeply pitched gable roof, gabled dormers, one-storey porch and modified ell. The most eye-catching features of the house are its ornamental aspects, especially the spindle work detailing on the full-width porch, the turned porch supports and the decorative bargeboards. It is likely that such embellishments came from McDonald's mill. Although mass manufactured, the wide-spread use of decorative trim on domestic buildings signified the emergence of a unique form of "industrial folk art" in Maritime Canada.

Jessica Bradley

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