Good House Bones - Researching Nova Scotia Historic Buildings

Deadly Luxury Part 1 "Dye to Die For"

Homes reflect economic status. In the past, the upper classes' desire for luxury and status could come with a fatal price. Think poisonous green dyes, toxic mercury mirrors, and killer makeup.

When it comes to old paint and dyes, you certainly want to check if their vibrant green comes from lead or arsenite, also known as "Scheele's Green". This arsenic containing pigment was created in 1775 and even after its toxicity was discovered, it wasn’t until the late 19th century that people truly began phasing it out. It was used in paint, wallpaper, clothing, candle dyes, and countless other household items.

The green paint in the halls of Clifton is thankfully only meant to imitate this green and is safe. However, where original materials and artifacts are present we follow careful handling and safety protocols to protect our staff and visitors. One of the responsibilities of a museum is ensuring our spaces are safe, many materials once considered commonplace were later found to be deadly, and keeping that history in mind is part of how we care for the museum today.

Today I had the privilege of recording the Barrington Woolen Mill, which I've visited in the past but never gotten the chance to look at in proper detail. Please take a browse through these select images; I've added descriptions to each for you to enjoy.

The mill, built in 1882 and active until a sudden closure in 1962, has been a Nova Scotia Museum site since 1967. Recently, the current Nova Scotia Government cut funding and proposed the abrupt closure of 12 of the 28 Nova Scotia Museum sites, including the Woolen Mill, with no clear plan on the closure process and no acknowledgement of how much this and other museums have been flourishing, and seeing rising visitor numbers, promoting tourism across the province.

As of 11 March 2026, the 2026-2027 Budget still hasn't passed, so this decision could still be reversed! Please call or email Premier Tim Houston, (902-424-6600 / [email protected]), CCTH Minister Dave Ritcey (902 424-4889 / [email protected]), and your local MLA ( https://enstools.electionsnovascotia.ca/edinfo/ ) to let them know you want these museums restored and the many heritage, arts, and environment cuts reversed!

Last fall I was fortunate to spend some time poking around and learning about an interesting duplex building form, in a Nova Scotia historic house being renovated and restored by Youtuber Shannon Makes (the footage from my visit will likely air later this year). But in the meantime! Shannon heard about the cuts to many Nova Scotia heritage, arts, culture, and environment sectors announced this week, and reached out to offer her channel as a way to spread the word about what's happening and what we can do.
Please check out the latest episode of her renovation journey below, with a segment that includes our chat about museum cuts starting around the 19 minute mark. Thank you Shannon!

RIPPING open the walls (looking for answers) Thank you to Quince for sponsoring this video! Elevate your wardrobe essentials with Quince. Go to https://quince.yt.link/KrfmkJq for free shipping on your o...

Edit February 27th to add: The budget isn't passed yet, and the government is getting a lot of push-back about these cuts. Keep pushing! Keep emailing and calling! Push about these closures, and about the 20% cuts to local museum funding!!

It was announced today that 12 of the 28 museums that make up the Nova Scotia Museum complex are being abruptly closed with no warning, part of the current Nova Scotia Government's deliberate plan to cause a deficit and force the elimination of funding and jobs in heritage, tourism, and the environmental sector.

The museums being closed are Cossit House, Lawrence House, McCulloch House, Perkins House, Prescott House, Ross-Thomson House, Shand House, the Barrington Woolen Mill, the Sutherland Steam Mill, the Wile Carding Mill, the Fisherman’s Life Museum, and the North Hills Museum.
Here are just a few of the images I have in my files from past visits to these museums.
At Cossit House, some attic floorboards showing that they were cut by hand using a pit saw - a rare survival in Nova Scotia and fantastic to see preserved in a museum.
At the North Hills Museum, the funny little feet that form the base of a pedestal. North Hills is full of incredible antiques and is probably my favourite interior furnishing collection in the NSM system.
At Prescott House, a deck prism and sail maker's palm from a small exhibit on shipbuilding in the rear sun room. This room also had a temporary exhibit of hand tools from local tool historian Kevin Wood. The museum has fantastic events and community connections; I was sorry to miss the summertime garden tea party that they held last year.
Also at Prescott, the fantastic Egyptian-style door knocker on the front door. When I visited last summer, the interpreter gave me probably the best museum tour I've ever experienced: well-informed, well-organized, and enthusiastically delivered. It kills me that more people can't experience that.
At Shand House, a copy of a Shoppell's house catalogue - the house was likely designed using elements of Shoppell's designs. To my knowledge, Shand House is the only building in the museum collection that was so directly associated with one of these catalogues; it represents a very interesting trend in the late 1800s that swept across North America. (I wish I could find my photo of the incredible stained glass fireplace that I love so much at Shand House, but I seem to have misfiled it!)
And finally, at Perkins House, a photo showing the exposed bases of the vertical planks that form the unique load-bearing structure of the house, exposed during 2021 restoration work. Perkins is one of only three known plank-frame structures in Nova Scotia, by far the best preserved, and the only one not used as a private home. It's irreplaceable!

If, like me, you don't want to see these incredible buildings be cut from the Nova Scotia Museum system, please contact your MLA, the Premier, and the minister for Communities, Culture, and Heritage. Even a short email or phone call will help! Ask why we're seeing such massive cuts to heritage, when heritage tourism is such a proven draw for visitors to Nova Scotia.

Minister Ritcey
Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage
Phone: 902 424-4889
Email: [email protected]

Premier Houston
902 424-6600
Email: [email protected]

I'm absolutely furious and appalled to hear we're losing this many museums under the government axe. These buildings are amazing and irreplaceable, both to general visitors and to researchers like myself who benefit from the preservation and study of historic structures. Please join me in calling and writing to your MLAs, the Minister for CCTH, and the Premier!

In my research I often make use of the Canadian Register of Historic Places (HistoricPlaces.ca). Unfortunately, it's been announced that the site will be taken down this spring, which is a huge loss to all of us as Canadians! The information on the website is often very slow and difficult to get through other channels, and it's unclear why the website is being nixed.

Earlier this week I sent an email to three of the ministers on the list shown at the link below, along with my own local MP. So far, no response from anyone, aside from auto-replies! Please consider adding your voice to the call to save HistoricPlaces.ca!

https://nationaltrustcanada.ca/online-stories/alarm-as-canadian-register-of-historic-places-to-shut-down

Alarm as Canadian Register of Historic Places to Shut Down - National Trust for Canada The Canadian Register of Historic Places, better known as the historicplaces.ca website, is coming down. Parks Canada announced in late...

It's been a busy fall in my day job as a consulting archaeologist, but with winter starting to close in, I've been able to dedicate a bit more time to my buildings research. And that includes learning the ropes on SketchUp so that I can work a bit faster than I do when I hand-draft on mylar.
Here are some preliminary sketches to illustrate a few surviving "plank frame" houses that I've looked at this year. The X-ray function is particularly useful to show the wooden pegs that prevent racking in the thick vertical planks of this style! The racking illustration is inspired by a similar diagram from the wonderful Building with Wood by John Rempel (1980).

Stopped in for a quick tour at the Scott Manor House Museum in Bedford today. A very cool spot; I’ve never visited before!
My favourite detail was being able to spot the hand plane markings on the floorboards of the attic closets. The house was built around 1770, long before mechanized planers or sanders were available around Kjipuktuk (Halifax Harbour). Smoothing roughly sawn planks with a plane would have been the best option!
I'll need to return with a good bar light for some "raking light" shots, but in the meantime, can you spot the shallow ripples or grooves in these boards?

Come join me on August 19th if you're in the neighbourhood!