News Release Archive
NS MUSEUM--WOODEN BOAT ANTIQUES AT NORTH HILLS MUSEUM
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North Hills Museum, Granville Ferry, Annapolis County, is paying
a tribute to the Year of the Wooden Boat on Saturday, July 13,
during Museums' Day in Nova Scotia. Visitors can learn about all
the naval items in the late Robert Patterson's collection of fine
antiques.
Patterson named the house North Hills in 1964 when he bought the
ramshackle building that had been built over 200 years earlier.
Patterson, an avid collector of Georgian antiques, decided that
the house, dating back to the same period of his interest (1714
-1830), would be the perfect setting for his collection.
The nautical items in the Patterson collection include a painting
by the famous George Morland, an Englishman who specialized
mostly in landscapes. On a journey to the Isle of Wight, Morland
painted most of the few seascapes he produced. The painting at
North Hills is a scene of a wrecked ship and survivors being
rescued. It was painted in 1791.
The other well known painter represented in the North Hills
collection is James E. Buttersworth. Buttersworth's father was a
seaman who became a painter. J.E. Buttersworth studied under his
father and concentrated mostly on shipping and yachting scenes.
Many of his works are found in museums and art galleries in the
United States, where he moved from London, England.
J.E. Buttersworth's dates overlap and are slightly later than the
Georgian period, 1817-1894. But even though Patterson deviated
slightly from his preferred era when he acquired the painting, he
did not sacrifice the excellent quality which most of the
furnishings in the house possess.
The collection also includes a large hooked likeness of the
Empress of India, a 6,000 ton steam ship built in 1891 to fulfill
a transpacific mail contract won by Canadian Pacific Shipping.
The museum also houses a print of what was briefly the fastest
steam ship to cross the Atlantic, the SS City of Berlin, built in
1875 by the British Inman Shipping Line, which held the fastest
record in both directions. However, a scant four months later a
new steamship from a rival company easily beat the Berlin's time.
The collection at North Hills holds many other nautical items
with interesting backgrounds.
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Contact: Joan Waldron 902-424-7398
Emma McKennirey 902-424-6435
trp July 03, 1996 - 1:35 p.m.
