10336 Highway 1: The Margaret Morse House

Architecture Style: Greek Revival

Built: 1913

In 1913, Margaret [Starratt] Morse’s husband, Samuel Kennedy Morse, died. Samuel had owned the busy sawmill and shingle mill on the Paradise Brook and had always lived in the cluster of Morse homes by the mill. The widow Margaret sold her Morse home and built this home across the lane in the village proper, for her retirement.

People liked to retire in Paradise, with its quiet riverside beauty.  The stores and services were excellent, and the “Post Road” provided easy travel and great people-watching.  Social life for men and women flourished in Temperance, Literary, and Mission societies, and the village church called for committed support. In 1918 Paradise women formed their own Women’s Institute branch,  “For Home and Country.” And at the Paradise Station, you could catch a train to wherever loved ones had scattered.

Margaret’s three children did not marry. After she and her daughter Rowena died,  Annie lived here alone – a woman with upright morals and posture, and a decided suspicion of all things male. Annie Morse made beautiful quilts and did superb tatting.

In 1945, J. Eugene Morse of West Paradise retired here.  Life Deacon, member of the parsonage building committee, and active in the apple industry, Eugene had been an army Major during World War I. At the time of the Halifax Explosion, he directed rescue and relief operations.  He and “S.K.”  were distant cousins, from brothers Samuel and Abner who came on the Charming  Molly in 1760.  Edith [Balcom], also of Planter lineage, taught in the Paradise School and married Eugene in 1900. They were a stylish couple!  She was a life member of Women’s Missionary Society, and active in Women’s Institute.

In 1970, Bill and Phyllis Nixon moved from Liverpool with their four sons:  Stephen, Joel, Graham, and Collin. Phyllis was Provincial President of the Women’s Institute, and in Paradise worked for rural beautification, the protection of the Paradise School as a County Heritage site, and many creative initiatives of friendship and fun.  Bill, a Dairy Inspector for the Dept. Of Agriculture, was an exceptional volunteer and neighbour.