Heritage group hopes to preserve historic estate, brick by brick

The heritage trust trying to preserve the Glenaladale estate, built in the late 1880s in Tracadie Bay, haslaunched a Buy a Brick campaign to encourage Islanders to invest in the property.

The group says it has until March 31 to raise another $700,000 it needs to buy the three-storey brick home, which it hopes to turn into a small conference/ education centre.

The Buy a Brick campaign will launch at a ceilidh at the Tracadie Cross Rec Centre on Jan. 21. The bricks are $25 each.

• Future of 18th-century Glenaladale Estate subject of talks

Mary MacDonald-Gallant of the heritage trust told CBC Mainstreet's Angela Walker the property is a great reflection of P.E.I. history and cultures.

"The Mi'kmaq, it was the good camping ground for them, that area. There was a French home, a settlement on there at one time," she said.

Sold to MacKinnons in 1905

"Scots, of course, came in 1772. Captain John's(MacDonald) son, Father John, brought out the Irish in the 1830s."

The MacDonalds were heavily involved in agriculture, she said.

In 1905, they sold the property to the MacKinnons, who were fox farmers.

It has been in the MacKinnon family eversince, but they currently have it up for sale.

The ceilidh concert for the Buy a Brick begins at 7:30 on Jan. 21. It features Eddy Quinn, John Webster and Mike Pendergast. For more information, call 902-676-2123.

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