The Humby House, a registered heritage structure at the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland & Labrador, was originally built in 1846 by Ed Humby, a fisherman & shipbuilder. It is located, overlooking the water, on approximately an acre of land at the head of Indian Arm, the former name of Summerville. The property was purchased by Heather MacLellan and painstakingly restored as a weekend & summer cottage. The property includes a hipped roof English style cottage with 3 over 3 and 3 over 6 windows, outhouses, grub & fish stores, wood shed & fencing. With the assistance of Bill & Gertrude White, Ms Maclellan was able to complete the restoration in June of last year. The Whites provided carpentry skills and conservation care & sensitivity towards all aspects of the delicate work. The main house received the bulk of the efforts as its foundations were completely rotted and the only thing preventing it from tumbling down the hillside when Heather arrived on the scene, was a well placed rock. Although the buildings were in a severely dilapidated state, one major advantage was, they had never been drastically altered from their original style. There was no vinyl siding, no horizontal slider windows and no altered roof line. It was itself, an open book, step by step guide for restoration.

Previous owners had made some changes to the house around the turn of the century. The original stair was curved and very steep, rising from the rear of the parlour. It was replaced around the turn of the century by quite a unique stair that rises through the center of the house and on the second floor has a hallway completely encircling it, lending a nautical feeling to the space. Heather also added a few of

her own touches, one of which was to combine two of the existing four bedrooms on the second floor to make a loft bedroom. Many layers of wall paper were removed there, to expose 300 year old pine boards harvested from the Bonavista area. In the kitchen, new cabinets were fashioned from an existing 1846 cupboard, using 150 year old pine from a house in Red Cliff. The exteriors of all the buildings had shores & sills replaced, rooves received new tar, rotten clapboard, corner boards & trim boards were replaced, rotten window sills & door thresholds were replaced and all exteriors received new paint.

The grouping of buildings located on the property indicates the self-sufficient life-style of the era. The original outhouse located at the front of the house is Heather's Folk House, the wood shed has become a Guest Shed, the Grub Store is her museum for interesting objects found on the property, one of which seems to be the early version of the Swiffer. Finally, the garden also offers up a bit of history. Heather boasts about having baked pie with apples from the 150 year old apple tree in the yard of her romantic hide-away.The Humby House is one of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador's Registered Heritage Structures.