Jost House offers you another era, yours to explore and enjoy!
This house is one of the oldest wooden structures in Sydney’s historic North End. The building illustrates an important local theme of change in this area of our city: an evolution from commercial use to commercial/residential and then to purely residential use.
Samuel Sparrow, British loyalist, merchant and ship owner, possessed the property from 1786 to 1787. The basement has been restored to his original 18th century kitchen with a cooking fireplace, a separate beehive bake-oven and an overhead ceiling plastered between the supporting beams. The museum collects historical artifacts for this area, and research on the Sparrow era in the house, and on his relationship with Governor DesBarres, is continuous.
Thomas Jost, a Halifax merchant, bought the property in 1836 and his descendants remained there until 1971. Historical artifacts for the ground floor bedroom, parlour, dining room, and store (until 1853) are being collected. In 1910, the roof was raised and the second floor extended to included bedrooms and bath due to the Jost family becoming so big.
At the Jost House, the museum exhibits collections primarily assembled by prominent Cape Bretoners and other local contributors. Dr. J. Esmonde Cooke’s collection in our Apothecary room preserves an assortment of medicinals and apparatus used in the making of medicine in the early 20th century. The Victorian room has items donated by Dorothy Sutherland, the most notable of these being a shawl that was given to her great-grandmother by Queen Victoria. The Jost Family Room has many items donated by the Josts. There is also a family history and a map of the local area from the mid-19th century, which lists the names of many people living in the area at that time. The Marine room is dedicated to our benefactor, Joan Harriss, who was primarily responsible for our museum. She also strongly campaigned for promoting Cape Breton as a tourism destination and port of call for cruise ships, which greatly helps sustain the museum today. The Marine room reflects our maritime heritage with a display of historical texts and artifacts, as well as a collection of model vessels, including the Caribou, one of the Newfoundland ferries connected to Cape Breton’s World War II history.
Watch this space for upcoming events throughout our season and follow us on social media to see regular updates! We are open all regular cruise ship days!
Hours: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM, Monday to Friday
Open all cruise ship days
Admission:
$4.00 per person
Free for students/children
Contact:
Telephone (902) 539-0366
Fax: (902) 539-4380
Email: josthouse1786@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/josthousemuseum