Author: Allen B. Robertson

Number 27 William Street, Hantsport, has been in my family’s possession for nearly 50 years. Its history dates to before the creation of Canada (1867) when it was built c.1836 for Captain Anthony Coalfleet, his wife Hannah (nee Martin), and their young family. Many of the original features of the building remain. The family surname itself is unique to Hantsport and area. During the early to mid-1770s, ex-soldier Edward Barker (formerly of the 2nd Battalion, 59th Regiment of Foot) had been settled in Falmouth where he had been following the livelihood of farmer. He made trips overland with cattle to sell at the Halifax market. According to oral tradition, he returned from one trip with an infant orphan boy who was the sole survivor of shipwreck carrying coal. In prosaic fashion, Barker named the child Peter Coalfleet. He would be raised with his sons and daughters in Falmouth and after the family acquired property in what became the nucleus of the...