Here is a photo of my grandad Alan Mills’ house on East Jeddore Road in Oyster Pond, Nova Scotia. The land where this house once stood was originally part of a parcel purchased in 1885 by Colin Mitchell (my 2nd great grandfather), Henry Mitchell, and Provost Jennex.
The house remained in the Mitchell family after Colin’s death in 1896. I believe this was Colin’s homestead that he left to his youngest son James. James died young with no children, and there is then a break in the chain of title.
My great grandmother Arabella (Mitchell) Mills (Colin’s daughter) resided in the house following the death of her husband Thomas Edward Mills in the First World War. They had been living in Gays River.
My grandparents Alan Mills and Rose Power moved in with Arabella in the late 1930s. Arabella died in 1942. In 1948, Alan Mills (Arabella’s son) is listed as the owner of the property.
My mother was born in this house in 1949. Three of the five girls in the family were born here.
When I was a child, we visited my grandad every summer and stayed at this house. I remember the pitch darkness at night and either the sound of frogs or of dead silence. Much different than our home in Hamilton.
Other memories include hiking in the woods with my grandad’s dog Duke; hanging out on “the rock” by the house; watching VHS wrestling tapes with my grandad; playing with my brother and sister while my parents played crib with Grandad and his companion Mabel Myers; visiting the chickens, pigs, goats, or pony (Lady) in the barn; foraging for wild blue berries; and, of course, seeing the many peculiar individuals (and, believe me, there were many!) who would pop in for a visit.
After my grandad died in 1995, the house was sold and eventually torn down. Some years later, I went back to the property and walked around a bit – reminiscing of years gone by. I picked up a piece of siding off the ground, the last evidence of the old house that stood many years.
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