The Satalic House
by Janet Henry Murdoch
April 1, 1981
White with robin’s egg-blue windows and gingerbread trim, the Satalic house on Station Road definitely stands out from other homes with their more conservative colours. An old barn also occupies the lot but it used more as a tool shed nowadays although as recently as a few years ago Rhode Island Red chickens scratched the dirt in a pen attached to it at the back. Behind, too, is a large vegetable garden divided into two sections by a small foot path which leads over Mackay Brook and wanders up past the Town Hall ending on the parking lot of St. David’s Church. The lawn, though small, is well looked after and slopes away from the house to the Station Road. There are a few small trees and bushes on it appreciating the open space and the full day’s sun/ A small wooded area is also present on the land with tall fir trees proving a coverlet of needles for the ground. Squirrels and chipmunks are about the only occupants year around although any birds fight it out every year for territorial rights.
The Satalic House was originally built as the caretakers home for the Hon. William Pugsley’s House, now owned by the Slatterys. Mr. Coffey was the caretaker and he is remembered fondly by a few who were naughty back then. The famous Coffey Apple Orchard used to stand where the Rothesay Town Hall and Fire Station is today.
Mr. William Mackay relates that as a boy going to the ROthesay Consolidated School, now Rothesay Park Elementary, which housed all twelve grades back then, he can recall with a couple of his friends during recess looking across the road at apple trees full of golden, green or red fruit just waiting for someone to pick them. Although he knew he wasn’t supposed to, his stomach often got the best of him and led him over the road to the orchard where he and his cohorts would try to fill their bellies and pockets with the delicious apples before they were caught by Mr.Coffey or the town constable who usually ended up chasing the rascals. According to Edward Mclean who was also a boy at that time, one of the remedies for apple stealing lads was for Mr. Coffey to fill his big, old shotgun with salt and aim for the backside. From his experiences Mr. Mclean can say quite honestly the treatment was might sore!
With the death of Mr. Coffey in the late 1930’s his orchard was doomed as well. Gradually, due to lack of care, it became more and more unkempt and finally in the 1950’s when it was decided to build the Town Hall on the site only a few ‘knotted remnants remained’. Eventually the house came into the hands of Mr. William Mackay’s father who bought it sometime after his son had purchased the former Pugsley House.
As far as any renovating of the Satalic House is concerned there hasn’t been that much except that when first it was built it was without indoor plumbing. Where the outhouse was is now unknown but maybe a very lush part of the garden or lawn could yield a clue. Plumbing was finally installed while Mr. Mackay lived there.
One can’t say that the Satalic House is very big but despite this and the size of the family the space inside is put to good use. The front entrance is inside a small porch beside the verandah and opens into the main hall. On the right side are old wooden shelves split by a window giving a view of the sunny back yard. The first door on the left leads into the living room which has a bay window jutting out onto the verandah and, opposite this, a lovely fireplace guaranteed to make anyone in the room forget about Old Man Winter peering in. Through the doorway at the end of the hall and to the immediate left is the dining room Like the living room, it too has a bay window only it views the Slattery property. Lovely oil paintings adorn the walls and a large wooden table with matching chairs to make up most but no all of the available floor area. Just across from the door or the dining room is the entranceway to the kitchen with a step down. True to the time when the House was built, the kitchen is large and served as a meeting place for friends to drop by back in the earlier years of this century. A door leads out to a smaller verandah at the back and on the other side is a small pantry.
Another doorway leads to a breakfast room-den A stairway beside the kitchen entrance takes two tuns on its way to the second floor. There are three bedrooms upstairs each with ample closet space and windows. The one bathroom is located at the top of the landing. According to Bill Mackay the home was constructed with no plumbing so this bathroom may have formerly been another bedroom or possibly a sitting room
The Satalic House seems small in comparison to Rothesay’s many larger older homes. It is perhaps a more typical Canadian home of the Victorian period and for that reason is an interesting and attractive Rothesay landmark.
