The Henderson-McCracken Home
by Elizabeth Volney
December 3, 1980
December 3, 1980
Unscathed by the passage of time, the house where Mrs. McCracken lives is still as beautiful as when it was built by her father in 1906- 1908. Standing at the end of a lone limestone drive that encircles it,this gray and white house is not very far from the Pony Club on Gondola Point Road. Built by Master Builder Joseph Henderson, it is constructed completely out of wood with a garbled roof. Built as a home for his wife Alice Shannon, this house is surely the finest example of Mr. Henderson's work.
The landscaping was expertly done. The house stands far back off the road with a long, flat, green lawn rolled out before it. Tall shade trees line the driveway and lawn giving the house itself a distinguished appearance. Off to one side of the dive and behind the house there a carriage house with double doors which today serves as a garage.
Not very far from the garage, set up on a little mound in amongst some some trees there is an ice house. It still stands on it's original state, with its stone foundation, wooden floor and garbled roof. It is just as cold now as it was seventy years ago. One can imagine a long low, double runner sleigh with two horses hauling huge blocks of ice being placed in this little house with saw dust, for use all summer. Before the says of refrigerators, people (in the winter time) would drive out onto the Kennebecasis River and cut huge blocks of ice marking the hole with spruce boughs and bringing the ice around to various houses in the area. The house itself is two stories high with garbled roof. Running along the front is an open air verandah with pillars supporting the roof, giving the front of the house a distinguished appearance. Also, on the face of the house, there are two dormer windows peepsin over the roof of the verandah, like two smiling eyes. The west side sports a beautiful bay window and a chimney.
The outsider of the house is designed with the intricate woodwork commonly found on many of the older houses in the Rothesay area. However, as Mrs. McCracken says, simplicity is elegance, and this house stands as a fine example of this.
The entrance to the house has a short, wide hall with a huge mirror covering the end wall. This mirror was brought all the way from Annapolis Royal from Alice Shannon's father's dry goods store. The mirror is framed in gold leaf with the Henderson coat of arms hung above it.
Each door and window on the first floor is framed by elegant pilasters supporting an intricate entablature with lintels curved along the outer portion.
To the left just inside the front door there is a den. The walls are finished in a rough plaster. The ceiling is ribbed with mahogany and plaster. There is a small brick fireplace, with a split level mantel of mahogany in the opposite corner. Just to the left of this fireplace is a diamond shaped window that adds a finishing touch to the room.
Across the hall is a livingroom. These walls are also of rough white plaster; on the opposite wall there is a fireplace of white porcelain tiles. The ceiling in this room is also designed with plaster and wooden strips forming a diamond pattern. There is a door connecting the living room to an impressive diningroom. It's two diamond shaped windows and a large bay window overlook the grounds. At the rear of the dining room there is an entrance to the kitchen and breakfast room. This room is the only room that has been renovated since the houses construction. Its changes have allowed for an electric stove, refrigerator and new sink. Mrs. McCracken still remembers the day when flour and sugar would come in big wooden barrels. Those were the day when people bought their groceries in bulk.
The stair's leading up to the second floor are cedar with a large heavy bannister. Upstairs, all of the door ways are similar to those on the first floor, however they lack the little lintels and are less intricate. Up here there is a small sewing room that also be a child's bedroom. Down the hall, to the left there is a large walk in linen closet with a bathroom next door. Directly above the living room and dining room there are two large bedrooms both exactly the same. At the end of the hall, between the bedrooms and linen closet there is a very impressive office where Joseph Henderson worked and ran his construction business. Elaborately decorated with massive beams of cedar this room makes one stand back and wonder what Joseph Henderson was really like.
Mr. Henderson was a very quiet man who attended to his work with great fervor. He also was a great reader and dabbled a little with politics in the privacy of his own home. Joseph Henderson did not drink or smoke, however he always kept a small bottle upstairs for medicinal purposes. He was a patient man. Once when Dick Starr and Jack Blair, as a practical joke, dropped a long board down the chimney of his living room fireplace, Mr. Henderson spent all day sawing the board foot by foot to remove it.
When he died his office remained intact; not a thing was touched for years.
Mrs. Henderson was quite an entertainer. Her friends would come for a 'short' visit and end up staying for several months. Some of them even brought their cats which caused a slight problem, not for the Henderson's, but for the poor cats. Mrs. Winton lovingly called 'Winty' by everyone, was the Henderson's cleaning woman who disliked cats and would chase them out of her way with the broom. Quite a character was Winty! When she wanted to dust or clean it didn't matter who was in the way. They were kindly asked to move.
The MaCracken house is not only a ROthesay landmark but because of its age and elegance, it is also very historical.
It stands as a well preserved tribute to one of Rothesay's main master builders of the nineteenth century, Joseph Henderson.
The landscaping was expertly done. The house stands far back off the road with a long, flat, green lawn rolled out before it. Tall shade trees line the driveway and lawn giving the house itself a distinguished appearance. Off to one side of the dive and behind the house there a carriage house with double doors which today serves as a garage.
Not very far from the garage, set up on a little mound in amongst some some trees there is an ice house. It still stands on it's original state, with its stone foundation, wooden floor and garbled roof. It is just as cold now as it was seventy years ago. One can imagine a long low, double runner sleigh with two horses hauling huge blocks of ice being placed in this little house with saw dust, for use all summer. Before the says of refrigerators, people (in the winter time) would drive out onto the Kennebecasis River and cut huge blocks of ice marking the hole with spruce boughs and bringing the ice around to various houses in the area. The house itself is two stories high with garbled roof. Running along the front is an open air verandah with pillars supporting the roof, giving the front of the house a distinguished appearance. Also, on the face of the house, there are two dormer windows peepsin over the roof of the verandah, like two smiling eyes. The west side sports a beautiful bay window and a chimney.
The outsider of the house is designed with the intricate woodwork commonly found on many of the older houses in the Rothesay area. However, as Mrs. McCracken says, simplicity is elegance, and this house stands as a fine example of this.
The entrance to the house has a short, wide hall with a huge mirror covering the end wall. This mirror was brought all the way from Annapolis Royal from Alice Shannon's father's dry goods store. The mirror is framed in gold leaf with the Henderson coat of arms hung above it.
Each door and window on the first floor is framed by elegant pilasters supporting an intricate entablature with lintels curved along the outer portion.
To the left just inside the front door there is a den. The walls are finished in a rough plaster. The ceiling is ribbed with mahogany and plaster. There is a small brick fireplace, with a split level mantel of mahogany in the opposite corner. Just to the left of this fireplace is a diamond shaped window that adds a finishing touch to the room.
Across the hall is a livingroom. These walls are also of rough white plaster; on the opposite wall there is a fireplace of white porcelain tiles. The ceiling in this room is also designed with plaster and wooden strips forming a diamond pattern. There is a door connecting the living room to an impressive diningroom. It's two diamond shaped windows and a large bay window overlook the grounds. At the rear of the dining room there is an entrance to the kitchen and breakfast room. This room is the only room that has been renovated since the houses construction. Its changes have allowed for an electric stove, refrigerator and new sink. Mrs. McCracken still remembers the day when flour and sugar would come in big wooden barrels. Those were the day when people bought their groceries in bulk.
The stair's leading up to the second floor are cedar with a large heavy bannister. Upstairs, all of the door ways are similar to those on the first floor, however they lack the little lintels and are less intricate. Up here there is a small sewing room that also be a child's bedroom. Down the hall, to the left there is a large walk in linen closet with a bathroom next door. Directly above the living room and dining room there are two large bedrooms both exactly the same. At the end of the hall, between the bedrooms and linen closet there is a very impressive office where Joseph Henderson worked and ran his construction business. Elaborately decorated with massive beams of cedar this room makes one stand back and wonder what Joseph Henderson was really like.
Mr. Henderson was a very quiet man who attended to his work with great fervor. He also was a great reader and dabbled a little with politics in the privacy of his own home. Joseph Henderson did not drink or smoke, however he always kept a small bottle upstairs for medicinal purposes. He was a patient man. Once when Dick Starr and Jack Blair, as a practical joke, dropped a long board down the chimney of his living room fireplace, Mr. Henderson spent all day sawing the board foot by foot to remove it.
When he died his office remained intact; not a thing was touched for years.
Mrs. Henderson was quite an entertainer. Her friends would come for a 'short' visit and end up staying for several months. Some of them even brought their cats which caused a slight problem, not for the Henderson's, but for the poor cats. Mrs. Winton lovingly called 'Winty' by everyone, was the Henderson's cleaning woman who disliked cats and would chase them out of her way with the broom. Quite a character was Winty! When she wanted to dust or clean it didn't matter who was in the way. They were kindly asked to move.
The MaCracken house is not only a ROthesay landmark but because of its age and elegance, it is also very historical.
It stands as a well preserved tribute to one of Rothesay's main master builders of the nineteenth century, Joseph Henderson.