10355 Highway 1: The Ambrose Bent House

Architecture Style: Transition House

Built: After 1850

The ambitious Ambrose Bent, merchant and trader, was a grandson of Planter Samuel Bent of Granville. In his store at the head of the lane, Ambrose carried everything: in 1853/4 he imported 100 barrels of Canadian flour. His 1862 ledger notes that Dr. Leander Morse spent $10.00 on a buffalo robe; Isaac Middleton, manager of the cheese factory, bought eggs; Joseph Elliott took home a bit of ribbon, and Major Morse, a quantity of factory cotton. Charles Covert, a tanner, bought boots, someone else, two scythes. This was the Age of Sail, and Ambrose was the first to ship Paradise apples to England, opening up decades of prosperity for the village. He even built his own ship here. The schooner “Paradise,” was registered in 1855 to Ambrose Bent and Avard Longley; it weighed 115 tons and was valued at 1800 pounds. It shipped 700 barrels of apples to Boston in 1856.

Ambrose was visionary, and he built a bold house. It combined the traditional Greek Revival pillars and pilasters with the new “picturesque” mode of Gothic Revival:  steep gables, arched windows, and ornate bargeboard. The white of a Greek Temple, combined with black shutters and trim, was the normative colour scheme for Nova Scotian Greek Revival homes.  This reflected the general admiration of the Classics- in architecture, in fashion, and in education.

In 1859, 41-year-old Ambrose married Amoret Elizabeth Morse, grand-daughter of Seth/Elizabeth Leonard and Samuel/Amoret Morse.  She died young in 1872, as did his second wife, Eunice Ross, in 1875. Eunice bore his only child, William, who died at 22. His third wife was Amoret’s well-to-do and younger first cousin, Clara, the daughter of  Minetta and merchant William  Foster of  Bridgetown.  Ambrose died in 1902, and Clara lived alone, until 1938, in her stylish home-  a woman of literary tastes who fiercely protected her roadside garden from village children.

The house belonged to Morse family or connections until 1981. More recent owners (see below) have added interest to our community and have valued this lovely home.