Nova Scotia Archives
Built Heritage Resource Guide
"Old Smyth House, Port Hood, Cape Breton"
Clara Dennis relates her visit to Port Hood in Cape Breton Over, 1942, pp. 273-274:
“I dined at the old stone house built by Hon. Peter Smythe in the long ago. Stone pillars and stone steps led into the plot of ground on which the old house stands. It is one of the striking houses of Port Hood and Hon. Peter Smythe was one of Port Hood ‘s most honoured and honourable citizens.
Peter came from his native home in Dublin in 1817, when a lad of seventeen years. Settling first at Cape George, he travelled through Inverness County selling goods. After some years he settled in Juste-au-Corps [Inverness County], built this stone house, and also a store.
He prospered, and built a larger store; then a store at Mabou. Finally, he had a chain of stores, in Mabou, Judique, on Smith’s Island and here in Port Hood.”
Date: 1930s
Photographer: Clara Dennis
Reference: Clara Dennis Nova Scotia Archives accession no. 1981-541 no. 10