Description of Historic Place

Cape Negro Hall is located on Blanche Road in the rural community of Cape Negro, in Nova Scotia’s South Shore region. It is a one-and-a-half storey, shingle-clad building set in a clearing amongst mature trees. Both the building and its surrounding land are included in the municipal heritage designation.

Heritage Value

Cape Negro Hall is valued for its continued use by the Cape Negro community, first as a school and more recently as a community gathering place. The building was constructed in approximately 1840, as referenced in early documents that state that “a new school of timber construction” was built in the area to replace an earlier log frame structure nearby. One of the first teachers on record in Cape Negro is Daniel Matherson, who was issued one of the first teaching licenses in the Province of Nova Scotia. A number of his students also became teachers, notably Mysie Gardner, who taught at Cape Negro for a number of years. Other teachers that taught for significant periods of time at this school included Mildred MacKay in the early twentieth century, and Alice Smith who taught at the school until it closed in 1951.

The hall is also valued for its unusual architectural features. It is a simple wood-frame structure with a symmetrical façade and decorative details in the woodwork. The steep gable roof, window choice and symmetrical placement are suggestive of the “temple plan” Greek Revival style. The side entrance also echoes the Greek Revival style with a small, pedimented overhang that also exhibits an unusual slope and bracket arrangement. Also of particular note are the decorative fish scale shingle work, octagonal window, bargeboard and brackets on the gable end façade, as if to suggest the Tudor or Scandinavian styles.

Cape Negro Hall remains largely unaltered in its exterior features, and remains compatible with several other older structures in the Cape Negro area. It continues to be used as a community hall to the present day.

Source: Municipality of the District of Barrington heritage files, “Cape Negro Hall” file.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Cape Negro Hall include:
- location on a cleared lot against a backdrop of mature trees;
- wood-frame, one-and-a-half storey construction with shingle cladding;
- Greek Revival “temple plan” elements, such as the gable end focus, symmetrical features, minimalist ornamentation, steep gable roof;
- decorative gable end elements, including the fish scale shingling on the upper storey, central octagonal window, bargeboard trim and strapping extending to the lower level;
- window arrangement of double-set, four-over-four sash windows, framed by heavy sills and sloping hoods;
- side entrance with a small pedimented portico and decorative brackets;
- pronounced cornerboards with brackets at the roofline.