Village Squire, 1978-05, Page 28the same property where its predecessors
were published as far back as 1784.
That was the year the Ross -Thomson
House was built on Charlotte Lane. During
its long life, the house has been a store, a.
warehouse and a residence. It is the only
business building of Loyalist days left in
Shelburne. The original owners were
merchants George and Robert Ross while
Robert Thomson, their accountant, had an
apartment at the back of the building.
The Ross -Thomson House was the chief
trading place in Shelburne's early
prosperous years when ships from all over
the world called at the harbor. The building
is a good example of New England
architecture. It has a gambrel roof over the
store and a gable roof over the apartment
at the back. -On display in the house today
are products from around the world sold
here in Shelburne's early days. Also of
interest are paintings and photographs
pertaining to local history, as well as
antique furniture and other memorabilia.
There are several other interesting old
houses in once -wealthy Shelburne, includ-
ing a barrel factory, a former dory factory,
a sail loft, the stagecoach stop and others.
Today, Shelburne still builds yachts,
schooners, dories and rowboats.
About 72 km (45 miles) east of Shelburne
is Liverpool, another Loyalist town founded
in 1760 by New Englanders. This town of
3,700 on the Mersey River, near the sea,
was visited by Champlain and DeMonts in
1604 and a plaque recalls this event.
Another plaque honors local privateers
of the 1800-1812 period. It says: "In
memory of the privateersmen of Liverpool
Bay who maintained and defended their
trade with the West Indies and waged
successful war upon the enemies of Great
Britain in ships fitted and armed at their
own expense. Foremost among them were:
Alexander Godfrey of the brig "Rover,"
who routed a Spanish squadron off the
Spanish Main and captured its flagship.
September 1800; and Joseph Barrs Jr., of
the schooner "Liverpool Packet," who in
nine months of the War of 1812 captured
more than a hundred American vessels on
the coast of New England. They upheld the
best tradition of the British Navy."
In 1762, Colonel Simeon Perkins built a
house of New England style in Liverpool. It
still looks "as good as new" and is now a
museum filled with antique furniture and
authentic relics of a bygone era. As in the
case of Shelburne, most Liverpool settlers
came from the Cape Cod area although
Col. Perkins was a native of Connecticut.
During the American Revolution, Liverpool
settlers were provoked out of
their
neutrality by repeated raids from New
England. Perkins successfully defended
Liverpool against American raiders and
later waged war on the sea against the
Spanish and the French to protect
Liverpool's trade routes to the West Indies.
Throughout these turbulent years, he
kept a detailed diary which is a valuable
account of local history and has earned him
comparison with England's famous Samuel
Pepys.
Fishermen cast for salmon on the La
Have River and yet an industrial town of
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22 Isaac St., Clinton 482-9333
PG. 26. VILLAGE SQUIRETMAY 1978.
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