FEATURE
Beachy vintage Nova Scotia reno embraces and preserves local history
BY LORI McKAY PHOTOS BY LUKE ADAMS, BEACH GLASS PHOTOGRAPHY
W
hen you walk in the front door of Kara Gourley’s renovated, two-unit lodge in Malagash, N.S., you’re met with yet another door. This one was once a ticket booth with a small peep hole at its centre. “It was used to screen people before they entered,” says Gourley. “They wanted to make sure the people trying to get in were actually members, and they were also probably checking to make sure they hadn’t been drinking.” Built in 1929, the Lodge, as Gourley calls it, was once home to the Malagash chapter of Odd Fellows. The group is one of the world’s oldest international fraternities, dating back to the 1730s in London. It was also where the local group
of Rebekahs (a worldwide service-oriented organization for women) gathered. Without knowing anything about its interesting past, Gourley was drawn to the property. “I own a cottage nearby and would drive by it almost daily for years,” she recalls. “I was always curious. I never saw anyone going in or out.” She even went as far as to search the address on a real estate website and found old interior photos. “I was like, ‘Wow.’ I saw the 12-foot ceilings and all the original Douglas fir mouldings, trim and doors. It was obviously a very nice building at one point in time.”
SUMMER 2022
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