Uniacke House Tour

Yesterday Grandson and I went to Mt. Uniacke to visit their museum. The story behind the house and it's owner, Richard Uniacke is interesting. 
Richard Uniacke was born in Ireland in the 1700's and while attending university to become a lawyer his allowance was cut off by his father over a disagreement. Penniless, Richard came to Nova Scotia and became a wealthy and prosperous man. He did return to Ireland and finished his studies and became a lawyer. He was also the Attorney General of Nova Scotia for 30+ years. 
Uniacke home was built starting in 1813 and was designed to represent the home Richard Uniacke grew up in and saw around the area he grew up in Ireland. This home was his retirement home when he decided to semi retire from his busy life in Halifax. 

The style of the house was not given but it a grand looking home from the outside. 

 The yard has grass and trees and in the grassy area is a sundial (1815) and a monument put there by a family member. Near the basement entry is a well. 

The sundial wasn't nearly as accurate as the one at Halliburton House. 

The monument is a cross and snake and represents good over evil. We now know the meaning of the Ashcroft Ranch brand. 

At the edge of the property was this sign. 

A piece has been excavated to show what it looked like. 

There are many walking trails around the property that one can walk around free of charge. 
When you enter the house for the tour, you enter through the basement which housed the kitchen. When the house was sold to the province of Nova Scotia, the house was sold with furnishings included 

The only fireplace in the whole house is the one used for cooking. 

This chair turns into a table when the cook needed it. The bowl beside it is made of wood. 
There was a wood stove added to the back of the fireplace. On it we saw the usual flat iron for pressing clothes. This interesting piece pressed pleats. It rocks and the underside is corrugated to make the pleats

This was also interesting. When pulled out, it was used to press the ruffles on clothing. 

We headed upstairs and was given a tour of the first floor. When you enter the house, there is a wide hall that runs the width of the house. Hung at each end of the hall are these lights. 

They are whale oil lamps and were very bright. You hold the feet on the light and pull it down to fill the lamps. The side pieces are counter balances. 
In the hall was a wood stove, which was new and claimed to be more efficient than fireplaces. All the rooms in the house had wood stoves. 

It was noted that when Uniacke was furnishing the Provincial House with pieces from England, he purchased 59 pieces for this home at the same time. Across from the stove and against the staircase were 8 chairs for visitors to sit at when they entered the house. 
The four rooms on the main floor was fairly large. The dining room was the first room on the tour. 

The table seating was beautiful. 

And there was a matching ice bucket to match. 

There was a silver tea set. 

And a gorgeous set of dishes given to Uniacke by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, when he moved back home from Nova Scotia in 1800.

The next room we looked at was the lady's parlor. It is directly across from the dining room. This room had one item of interest -- a parlor stereoscope. 

The large glass at the top magnified the picture and the small ones made it 3-D. At this point we noticed that the room were lit with oil lamps or candles. Every room had large windows to help keep the rooms light. 

Even the music stand has candle holders on it. 
Next to the dining room was Uniacke's office. It is one of the smaller rooms on the main floor. It houses a couple of hundred antique books, a huge chair and his desk. 

Across the hall was a bedroom. There was no story told as to who slept in it and why it was on the main floor. 

 In the room was the uniform of one Uniacke's six sons. 

Upstairs held the bedrooms. Some were good size and others were small. All three bedrooms on one side of the house were interconnected. 

The room you can see by the wash stand was the only room we couldn't get to see. 

 This was the other bedroom that opened into the middle room we couldn't see. 
In the small room where clothing was displayed was a servant's bedroom. One assumes she helped look after the children. 

It was truly amazing to see the gowns in such good condition. 
Across the hall from the first bedroom was the master bedroom. It was huge in size and the bed looked to be the size of today's queen size bed. 

At the wall beside the door was a wood stove. The room was amazing and everything was in pristine shape. Uniacke's first wife never lived in this house, having passed prior to its completion. His second wife who had his 12th child lived here. Uniacke had 6 daughters and 6 sons. 
The last bedroom was next to the master bedroom. As you went to it, you saw a curved wall with a curved door. In the door was a round hole.

 Next to the bedroom was another door with a hole in it. 

Grandson spotted them and we were told that these are the only two closets in the house and the holes allowed the cats to go in and out of the closets to catch mice. 
The last bedroom was about the same size or a bit smaller than the other bedrooms. 

In the stair well was a clock for all to see when they came out of their bedrooms. 

 The stairs take you up one more floor but we weren't allowed up there. 

We headed back down to see the little things the Uniacke's owned that are displayed in that part of the house. 
The grandfather clock dates back to the 1700's and was probably in the Uniacke's Halifax home. It chimed at 11:00 a.m.

There was an inkwell in crystal. We were told it was probably one that was portable. 

And the medicine chest that had the scales and some medicines in it. 

And back to the dining room to see the tea chest. It was always kept locked as the servants were known to steal the tea. 

At the back of the hall is a small entrance way. In it was the Uniacke brand.

He did have livestock as there is a barn and other buildings near the house. He tried to grow crops but was only successful at growing turnips. 
When the Uniackes were away, the shutters were locked in place and the caretaker could look into the house to see if all was well. 

 The key we saw inside the house that locked one of the bedroom doors had 25 as the locking part on the key. The back door's key was fancier than that. 

 Besides these two locks, there were two other vertical locks at the top and bottom of the door. 

Another bit of information we were given was when Richard Uniacke passed, his lawyer sons inventoried the house. At a later date, one of the girls wrote memoirs so his grandchildren would know about their father and their lives. 
We had a great tour of the house and will be back to look at the out buildings and walk the trails. 
This could be the last museum we tour this summer unless we sneak in Prescott House next week. That remains to be seen.