10400 Highway 1: The Edgar Stanley Bishop House

Architecture Style: West Coast Bungalow

Built: 1954

Martha [Durgin] Bishop sent her daughters off to New England in hopes they would not have to marry farmers. It was, she said, too hard a life. Bertha Medora Leigh Bishop went to Massachusetts and married Harold Plummer in 1888. They went west to California, and “Dora”  wrote often. When she learned that her nephew, Ed, (Acadia, B.Eng.,1919) wanted to study Mechanical Engineering, she invited him to live with them. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, and there he met and married Lydia Roberts, Mills College graduate and music teacher. They had two children, Marian and Charles. When the children were small, they came home to live in the Asaph Marshall house. But Ed was restless., and they went back to California, where he worked in home heating. When he moved to Boston, he invited his son-in-law, Mark Leonard, to learn the business. 

In 1954 Ed and Lydia came back to Paradise. Ed was aware that his heart condition would shorten his life. In 1944 Charles had been killed in the Solomon Islands, on a pilot’s training flight. Now, they wanted to be near Marian and their grandchildren. Ed’s parents, Carrie and Fred, provided land for their home, next to the land they had given their daughter Marion and her husband Ralph Beard.  Ed and Lydia’s home design was a radical departure for Paradise: a West Coast Bungalow with glass block feature, picture windows in the back, and a  basement garage.  Inside, they decorated simply, with Asian influence, but the pink and black bathroom was true 50’s style!  Lydia’s fruit and berry crops were famous, and the long expanse of lawn leading to the river was perfect for croquet games.  Ed died within two years, aged 57. Lydia spent her widowhood learning, working, golfing, gardening, traveling, and giving:  church organist for 25 years, Cancer Society, Women’s Institute. She was much loved in Paradise. 

When she went to live at Mountain Lea Lodge, Bob and Rose Piggott bought the house. They were active church members, and Bob had an upholstery business of high reputation. Bob and Rose added a bay window to the dining nook. 

Frances and Lloyd Veinot came from Fredericton in search of the ideal home for their retirement years, and they knew they had found it in Ed and Lydia’s dream home. They were active and avid supporters of Paradise, and improved the home still more. Everyone looked forward to their return in the spring after a winter away.