Description of Historic Place

Uniacke Estate Archaeological Site, Borden Number BfCx-02, archaeologically investigated in 1992, is situated on the remaining portions of Richard John Uniacke's Mount Uniacke estate in Nova Scotia. The estate’s remaining grounds and buildings represent the core of the 11,340 acre property created by Uniacke, which he designed in emulation of the English Landscape Gardening School during the period 1786-1821. While the main house and three adjacent buildings of the estate still exist, many outbuildings are no longer standing. The archaeological remains are registered under Borden number BfCx-02 and are now incorporated into the estate property as a whole, which is now a part of the Nova Scotia Museum group and also designated as a Provincial Heritage Property.

Heritage Value

Uniacke Estate Archaeological Site is valued as a rare North America example of archaeological remains of an early nineteenth century English country estate. The original owner of the site, Richard John Uniacke, was a lawyer and a member of the landed gentry, emigrating from Ireland in the 1770s. In 1781, Uniacke was appointed Solicitor General for Nova Scotia. He was also elected to the House of Assembly, named Speaker of the House in 1789, in 1797 he was appointed Attorney General of Nova Scotia, a position he held throughout his life, and in 1808 he was appointed to the Legislative Council.

In 1813, Uniacke began construction on his country estate home, Uniacke House, on his large estate situated part way between Halifax and Windsor. In addition to the main house, Uniacke built a large barn, coach house, various outbuildings and gardens, suitable to a man in his position. Of these, the main house, the barn, the coach house and an ice house are still standing. The majority of these buildings were clustered around the main house. A hothouse located in the orchard and a boathouse located on the shore of Lake Martha, at the end of a tree lined path running from the house to the lake, no longer exist.

The estate contains examples of landscape features and remains of horticultural buildings that are rarely found in North America, and represents one of the earliest remaining examples of this landscape style on the North American continent, particularly in the area excavated under Borden number BfCx-02. The School of English Landscape Gardening arose in the eighteenth century and had as one its goals the placement of the estate home directly into the natural setting. Richard Uniacke clearly had the intention to replicate this style at his estate, which was a working farm with the home situated to take advantage of and to enhance natural vistas. One method used to achieve this was the use of a "haha wall" to seamlessly separate the area immediately around the home from the farmland, consisting of a low stone wall built into the house-ward side of a ditch, which is situated some distance from the home. This method adhered to the natural ideas of English landscape gardening: it kept livestock away from the house, yet retained a continuous visual relationship between the house and its surroundings. When herds, flocks and landscape are viewed from the home, the vista is uninterrupted, yet the animals see a barrier separating them from the lawns and flower gardens.

Uniacke may also have been experimenting in horticulture as well as in agriculture. An eighteenth century gentleman's estate would not have been complete without a greenhouse structure of some sort, and the Uniacke Estate featured an artificially heated greenhouse. The "Upper Hot House", as it was known, was likely an original feature of the estate, and was in use until Uniacke's death in 1830. The Uniacke hothouse was a surprisingly large one, fronted on the south, which would expose the greatest surface area to the sun, and consisting of two distinct areas. The west portion held a tool and equipment shed and storage for the fireplace and fuel supply. To the south of the fireplace was the entrance to the hothouse section, which occupied the eastern portion of the structure. The hothouse section had a wooden floor and also contained a “bark bed”: a deep hole filled with tree bark which would have given off heat as the bark composted, and into which plants requiring protection or propagation would have been plunged. Apart from its practical function, the hothouse may have also served an aesthetic function within the vista from the main house, its location being part of the original design concept. The archaeological site is now incorporated into the estate property as a whole, which is now a part of the Nova Scotia Museum group.

Source: “Uniacke Estate, BfCx-02” files, Archaeology Unit, Nova Scotia Museum.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Uniacke House Archaeological Site resides in the following character-defining elements:

- the archaeological remains on site, situated within the larger landscape originally created by owner Richard John Uniacke as part of his country estate;
- remains of the planned landscape, exemplifying the English Country Gardening School;
- those elements shown by archaeological research to be related to the original estate design;
- the remaining features of the “haha wall”, both intact and excavated;
- the remains of the original nineteenth century hothouse;
- those artefacts removed during excavation which are in storage; and
- any other yet-to-be identified features or artefacts related to the Uniacke Estate.