Fame, Fortune and Fresh Air

In a bid to get away from the summer heat of their workaday worlds, the rich and famous have been escaping to magnificent waterfront retreats in Eastern Canada for more than 150 years. These five heritage “cottages” harken back to an era of eclectic architecture driven by wealth and idyllic dreams.

Covenhoven, Ministers Island, New Brunswick

Pedigree: Industrialist William Cornelius Van Horne (1843-1915), builder of Canada’s first transcontinental railroad 

Constructed: 1890–1911 

Set atop a 280-hectare island on Passamaquoddy Bay, the airy 50-room sandstone summer home features 17 bedrooms, art studios, a music room and a veranda overlooking a circular limestone bathhouse tower that leads to a tidal water pool. Open to the public.

Beinn Bhreagh Hall, Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

Pedigree: Scientist Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), inventor of the telephone 

Constructed: 1892-1893 

The 600-acre estate was the centre for much of Bell’s research into aviation, hydrofoils and animal husbandry, and employed many local residents. Bell’s wife, Mabel, designed 12 hectares of gardens around the ornate shingled Queen Anne Revival cottage that rises high above Bras d’Or Lake. The 37-room residence includes 11 bedrooms, 17 fireplaces and a sprawling veranda flanked by turrets. Closed to the public.

Roosevelt Cottage, Campobello Island, New Brunswick 

Pedigree: U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) 

Constructed: 1897 

Given as a wedding present to FDR and his wife, Eleanor, in 1908, this red-shingled summer house resembles a series of barns strung together to accommodate its 34 rooms (including 18 bedrooms). The future president seldom visited after his 1921 bout with polio, but Eleanor Roosevelt summered here until 1952. Open to the public.

Prime Minister’s Cottage, Harrington Lake, Gatineau Park, Quebec

Pedigree: Official summer residence for Canadian Prime Ministers since 1959 

Constructed: 1925 

Prime Minister John Diefenbaker made this Colonial Revival clapboard farmhouse an official summer residence in 1959. Typical of the region’s grand cottages, the 16-room home was crafted with local timber by a lumber baron on a 1,200-hectare forest retreat that eventually became part of the National Capital Region’s Gatineau Park. Closed to the public.

Leacock House, Lake Couchiching, Orillia, Ontario

Pedigree: Author Stephen Leacock (1869-1944), humorist and economist 

Constructed: 1928 

Leacock built this 19-room Arts and Crafts summer home and a two-storey boathouse on lakeside farmland. The white stucco house — now a museum and archives — features several second-floor balconies with views of Old Brewery Bay and the four-hectare grounds. Open to the public.