July Edgcomb and her husband, Gabriel, have encountered supernatural experiences while working on getting The Leard House business in Lower Bedeque ready for the opening.
“He (Gabriel) asked me, ‘Is there a spirit in the house?’ I was trying not to make too big of a deal about it because of the kids,” she said.
“I was scraping the wall over there, and I heard in my ear, ‘Don’t be silly; you know I’m here’.”
The Victorian-style house was where Lucy Maud Montgomery called home for six months when she taught at the village’s schoolhouse in 1897.
While sitting in the living room with natural light coming through the large windows and hearing the sounds of renovations, July pointed and said, “The room above us, when you walk in everyone can smell an instant whiff of floral perfume, and then it dissipates.
“One of the teenagers that has been here has actually seen the shadow going across the top of the stairs. Another person was in the garden, and it swooped down, and they felt it.”
There’s speculation as to whose ghost it may be, she added.
“Of course there’s who everybody wants it to be.
“Whether it’s Maud or not, I’m doing everything I can to honour her in everything we do in this house.”
That includes incorporating Montgomery’s favourite colours and flowers.
The house is where the famous author possibly would have lived if she had been able to marry Herman Leard. However, the way society was set up, it wasn’t an option.
Montgomery wrote about how she wouldn’t give up her memories of that love affair for anything in the world, with the exception of her children, July said.
“One day she had a headache and she was sitting here on the couch looking out this window. She had a blanket over her, and he came and sat next to her and they were secretly holding hands.”
After Herman’s death, Montgomery traveled into Bedeque to visit his sister, Helen, in Fernwood.
“She goes past his grave and she feels him reaching out for her.
“It must have been true love, because why else would she write about him 30 years later?”
July purchased the Cornelius Leard House last October, and partnered with Abi Totty and Courtney Gallant.
There, they will offer a tearoom, gift shop, open mic nights, cooking classes, yoga, and more, year-round.
The new anticipated opening date is mid-May or beginning of June.
July said the house was in disrepair with about 50 years of neglect, so volunteer support is appreciated and essential given the amount of work needed.
“It’s a really special house that has been forgotten about.”
The trio is eager to open the doors to tourists and Islanders.
“If people will give us a chance and come out here, they’re going to have a truly unique experience they haven’t had anywhere else on the Island.”
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