The Loyalist House

[00:00:04] I am Mark, the NB Traveler and here we talk about New Brunswick Stuff.

[00:00:09] This episode focuses on the Loyalist House in St. John and the importance of

[00:00:15] the Loyalist's arrival in the 18th century. So let's get started. If you've

[00:00:27] listened to this podcast very long, you know that I love coffee. This month

[00:00:33] Linda and I are traveling in Italy and you can follow our journey on NB

[00:00:38] Traveler.com if you care to. I plan to visit some great coffee places along the

[00:00:44] way. The first one will be La Casa del Caffe Taza De Orre. Just a short walk from

[00:00:53] the Hotel Pointe Sisto where we are staying. Established in 1944, it's one

[00:01:01] of the oldest and most traditional coffee shops in Rome. My review will be

[00:01:07] on the website blog. Watch for it. Today we're going to be talking about the

[00:01:19] Loyalist House in St. John, New Brunswick. I have with me two individuals, Greg

[00:01:25] Marquis who's the president of the New Brunswick Historical Society and Troy

[00:01:30] Middleton who's the vice president of the society. They have some events

[00:01:35] coming up and I'm looking forward to hearing more about the history of the

[00:01:40] Loyalist House and the events that they have coming up. So Troy and Greg,

[00:01:44] welcome to NB Traveler. So let's start out by having you give an overview of

[00:01:54] the Loyalist House history and how it helps to tell the story of the loyalists

[00:02:00] who founded St. John. Sure, Loyalist House is one of the oldest surviving

[00:02:04] buildings in St. John. As you may know, a lot of the buildings were

[00:02:07] destroyed by fires. It dates from 1817 and it was built by a New York loyalist

[00:02:12] when he was a middle-aged man, Daniel David Merritt, and he came with his

[00:02:17] family from New York with the Loyalist refugees in 1783. He was a wealthy

[00:02:22] merchant and two years of three years after he built the house he passed away

[00:02:25] and then the house went to the next generation and so on. So about five

[00:02:28] generations of the Merritt family lived in the house. Later was the Harrison

[00:02:33] Merritts and then family, the estate sold the house to the New Brunswick

[00:02:37] Historical Society in the late 50s. Actually it was saved from the wrecking

[00:02:40] ball and it became one of the first small museums in the province and we,

[00:02:45] the New Brunswick Historical Society which is almost as old as the Loyalist

[00:02:49] House but not quite has run Loyalist House or the Merritt House as a

[00:02:52] seasonal museum since about 1961. We're mainly open in the summer months

[00:02:56] but lately with the cruise ship visitors we've tried to stay open

[00:02:59] a bit in the fall and so it's kind of a symbol of the wealthy, the sort of the

[00:03:04] more upper-class Loyalists and it's called the Georgian style architecture

[00:03:08] or in the United States Federalist architecture.

[00:03:12] Or are there any particular fascinating stories or artifacts related to the

[00:03:17] Merritt family and the generations that they live there that might be

[00:03:22] of interest to my listeners?

[00:03:24] Well one of the things that I find quite interesting is how the family

[00:03:28] saved the house during the St. John Fire in 1877.

[00:03:33] The according to the family lore is they pulled up the rugs and the bed sheets

[00:03:38] and whatnot soaked them in water and laid them on the roof and on the walls

[00:03:42] of the outside walls of the house to keep the the safe, save their home.

[00:03:47] Now they, I think that was, if you see, you look at a map of how close

[00:03:52] the fire came to the Loyalist House it was like less than a block away.

[00:03:57] So, you know, they really went above and beyond to save their family home.

[00:04:02] I would say that's fantastic.

[00:04:05] And I know you have a lot of artifacts there in the Loyalist House.

[00:04:09] Are these all artifacts that came from the Merritt family or are there

[00:04:14] more things involved, Greg?

[00:04:17] We have a few.

[00:04:17] We'd like to have more artifacts from the Merritt family.

[00:04:20] Some of them are very interesting.

[00:04:21] Like my two favorite would be Julia Merritt, who was the daughter,

[00:04:24] I believe, of the guy built the house.

[00:04:26] She stitched this beautiful silk map of England 1820.

[00:04:30] It's a very delicate artifact is quite unique.

[00:04:32] The other thing that's quite unique is the piano organ combination

[00:04:36] that's in the South Parlor built in Boston in the 1830s.

[00:04:39] There was very few of them around left in the world.

[00:04:41] A lot of the artifacts are donated or became part of the collections

[00:04:45] of the New Brunswick Historical Society because when the house was

[00:04:48] sold, a lot of the fixtures and furnishings and things like that

[00:04:52] were sold as well.

[00:04:52] But we've got some of it back.

[00:04:54] It's meant to interpret kind of an upper class family in the 19th century.

[00:04:58] I'm sure it takes a lot of money to keep the Loyalist House running.

[00:05:03] And you both are involved with the New Brunswick Historical Society.

[00:05:09] And the society has a responsibility for keeping the fire going

[00:05:14] and keeping the temperature at the correct temperature there in the house.

[00:05:18] What's some of the challenges that you have?

[00:05:21] Well, one of our biggest challenges is having enough money at the end

[00:05:26] of the year to pay all our bills.

[00:05:28] We did make a major investment in the house last year, replaced

[00:05:33] the old oil furnace with a heat pump, which, you know, price oil.

[00:05:37] It really affected our operating costs and with the heat pump.

[00:05:42] Well, we're hoping that that'll save us some money so we can put

[00:05:45] the little extra cash that we have into maintenance of the home.

[00:05:50] We need to build, we have to repair a couple of the front and back steps

[00:05:55] where the house needs painting, you know, just to keep it.

[00:05:58] We've got to keep on top of maintenance in order to keep the house around

[00:06:01] for another 50 years.

[00:06:02] So what's your source of funding?

[00:06:04] Well, we get a little bit of funding from the province.

[00:06:07] We also, we do appreciate the summer students or the summer programs

[00:06:11] from the federal and provincial governments to help us.

[00:06:13] We get a little bit of government money, but a lot of it is money we raise

[00:06:16] ourselves and that's why we're doing it.

[00:06:18] We're increasingly doing fundraising initiatives and also bring some attention

[00:06:22] to the house, right? But it's like if you had a 200 year old wooden house

[00:06:26] on the Bay of Fund Day, there's always an upkeep bill.

[00:06:30] And so, yeah, as Troy mentioned, we have a lot of deferred physical maintenance.

[00:06:33] So, yeah, we do have some we've had some interesting fundraisers

[00:06:37] and we've got more planned.

[00:06:38] Well, I noticed that the New Brunswick Historical Society hosts

[00:06:42] the annual Loyalist Day celebration.

[00:06:45] Number one, can you talk a little bit more about what's coming up with Loyalist Day

[00:06:51] and can you discuss the importance of these commemorations?

[00:06:55] Well, Loyalist Day has been a little quiet in recent years, but this year

[00:06:59] it's really it's really building up.

[00:07:00] We are just a small part of that.

[00:07:02] There's a whole slate of activities on Saturday, May 18th

[00:07:05] that are posted on our Facebook site.

[00:07:07] And I think media will promote that as well.

[00:07:09] May 18th was years ago, a big celebration in St. John.

[00:07:13] It commemorated the arrival of the first major fleet in 1783

[00:07:18] when the Loyalists evacuated New York and came here.

[00:07:21] But over the years, it's kind of gotten quieter, particularly on a weekday.

[00:07:24] So the fact that it's on a weekend, a lot of volunteers are going to be doing

[00:07:27] things around town, most of it's free.

[00:07:30] So if you're a history buff, you know, check out those activities.

[00:07:32] We will be open that day from 10 to 3.

[00:07:35] No admission.

[00:07:36] We're going to have some reenactors from Delancey's Brigade,

[00:07:39] some of the civilian reenactors hanging out in the house and showing

[00:07:43] dressed in period costume, showing what life was like in the 1780s.

[00:07:47] So 1783 was when the Loyalists came.

[00:07:54] And on Saturday, May 18th, you're going to be open and you're going to have

[00:08:00] a lot of reenactors in there that will be demonstrating

[00:08:05] and doing tours through the house, all free.

[00:08:08] Yeah. And there's things all over town.

[00:08:10] I mean, there's there's all sorts of walks and lectures and events

[00:08:13] in Delancey's Brigade, you know, reenactors.

[00:08:16] And it's a very, very busy day planned for May 18th.

[00:08:20] I will put information on the show notes with links that will take

[00:08:25] my listeners to different places that they can get more information.

[00:08:31] Troy, you've got something you want to add about that.

[00:08:34] Yeah, I just wanted to point out the significance of celebrating Loyalist Day.

[00:08:41] Yes, the landing happened in 1783, but it has relevance today

[00:08:45] because who were the Loyalists?

[00:08:47] They were persecuted in their own country and they left for a better life.

[00:08:50] And we see that today.

[00:08:52] Right. People come and immigrating to Canada, leaving war-torn countries,

[00:08:56] looking for a better life.

[00:08:58] And that's the story of the Loyalists.

[00:09:00] You know, the motto of New Brunswick is them redo, hope restored.

[00:09:04] The Loyalists lost everything for the most part.

[00:09:06] A lot of them were able to save, hold on to their wealth, I guess,

[00:09:09] if they had had hard currency, but most of them lost their homes,

[00:09:14] their farms, their businesses.

[00:09:15] And when they got to the harbor in New York to get on a ship,

[00:09:18] they were told one carry on, you know, just like getting on a flight today.

[00:09:24] No, you can't take all that luggage.

[00:09:26] You can sell one bag and one carry on sort of thing.

[00:09:29] Right. So they came here with nothing.

[00:09:32] I think the population of St. John Harbor, what, maybe five or 600 people total?

[00:09:39] So there was nothing here and they had to start from nothing

[00:09:44] and rebuild.

[00:09:45] And now we have the city of St.

[00:09:48] John and the cities here because these people went for a better life somewhere else.

[00:09:54] The Loyalists are a good example

[00:09:57] of every other group that has come in to St.

[00:10:00] John since then to start with a little bit of nothing and build their own

[00:10:07] better life. So what other events are being planned there at the Loyalist House

[00:10:13] besides participating in the Loyalist Day?

[00:10:16] Well, I just want to mention a lot.

[00:10:18] Troy handle that answer, but I just want to say that through the rest of the

[00:10:21] year we also offer lectures in the community, right?

[00:10:24] But Troy has been involved with a new type of event that's really drawing a lot

[00:10:29] of attention and we think it could be a very nice fundraiser for us.

[00:10:33] Troy, do you want to talk about that?

[00:10:35] Yeah, a local paranormal group, Canadian paranormal investigations,

[00:10:39] reached out to us last fall, offered to help hold a fundraiser for us.

[00:10:45] So made arrangements with them.

[00:10:46] They came into the house to do their preliminary investigation there a few

[00:10:49] weeks ago and it seems to be some unknown activity.

[00:10:53] I guess the easiest way to put it, the place in the house.

[00:10:57] All of us that have worked in the house, we've heard lots of stories,

[00:11:01] you know, just like any old building their stories.

[00:11:04] But that night I was there with them.

[00:11:06] I experienced a few things that kind of maybe went, OK, maybe there's something

[00:11:11] to this and so we set up a couple of dates where they sold tickets to have

[00:11:17] people come in, fantastic turnout, more than we expected.

[00:11:21] Everybody had a great time.

[00:11:23] They all got to use the paranormal group.

[00:11:25] They had lots of extra equipment, so everybody had a chance to use some

[00:11:29] of the electronic gadgets and stuff like that.

[00:11:32] A lot of people had different experiences, I guess.

[00:11:35] Some people seen things, some people didn't, but they heard things or didn't.

[00:11:40] You know, it's kind of hard to explain

[00:11:43] everybody's experience because everybody's experience was a little bit different.

[00:11:47] And you know, it was like Greg said, it was quite successful.

[00:11:52] Do you have another one scheduled then?

[00:11:54] There's another one coming up, maybe 10 to 11.

[00:11:59] Yeah, we've been reposting and some of the people have been contacting us.

[00:12:03] The people who were there last week, so they're coming back.

[00:12:06] And yeah, so we take 20 people a night because we're a little tight on space.

[00:12:10] And we're assuming because of the interest in this,

[00:12:13] this will continue as long as we can find the volunteers to run it.

[00:12:17] And it goes to 11 or 12 o'clock at night.

[00:12:19] Right. So yeah, it's a nice little fundraiser and it just shows that,

[00:12:22] you know, it's just another way to reach out to the community and get more people

[00:12:25] to come in and experience Loyola's house.

[00:12:27] What kind of cost is there to come?

[00:12:30] It's thirty dollars for now.

[00:12:31] And that's like for about a four hour experience.

[00:12:35] OK, well, that's exciting.

[00:12:37] And I'm sure that some of my listeners will be interested in participating in that.

[00:12:44] And I would be very interested in volunteering when I get back in the country

[00:12:49] in June, it's a very exciting type of thing.

[00:12:53] And it does showcase Loyola's house, which is really what we are interested in doing.

[00:13:00] Well, thank you so much for being here, Greg.

[00:13:04] One additional thing that you might want to mention,

[00:13:07] I know you have monthly talks at the library, the historical society.

[00:13:13] Is that run on through the summer or do you close us down in June?

[00:13:17] We tend to take a break in the summer,

[00:13:19] but we might organize a few daytime talks at the library at right.

[00:13:23] Troy, as an experiment this summer.

[00:13:25] Yeah, yeah, but we'll be back in business for sure in September.

[00:13:28] Now, the other thing, Mark, we've got to mention if anyone would like to volunteer,

[00:13:32] if you like to talk to people, you have a little bit of a Irish Blarney or

[00:13:36] the gift of the gab.

[00:13:37] We're always looking for volunteers during cruise ship season in September and

[00:13:40] October, because often our students have to go back to college or community college.

[00:13:44] And it's always nice to have some new people coming into volunteer to help us

[00:13:48] with those tours. You can certainly contact us if you're interested.

[00:13:52] Well, we will put all of that information in the show notes and be looking

[00:13:56] forward to that cruise ship season because we know that gives you a lot

[00:14:03] of additional people that are coming into Loyola's house and experiencing

[00:14:08] those things that you have there to offer.

[00:14:11] Thank you so very much for your time and we hope you have a great day.

[00:14:16] You too. Thanks for having us. Thanks.

[00:14:24] Thank you for taking the time to listen today.

[00:14:27] I always appreciate you listening to the whole podcast.

[00:14:30] If you have a message or would like to leave a rating,

[00:14:33] you can go to my website at mbtraveler.com and leave a rating there.

[00:14:39] Next week's episode is going to be on the replica

[00:14:43] Acadian Fort LaTour in St. John.

[00:14:47] You all have a good day and a blessed week.