Henry Island, Port Hood, N.S.
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 1
Lot size: 222 acres
List price: $6,990,000
Realtor: Angie Bryant
View the listing here
In the market for a new summer getaway and have $6.9 million laying around? We may have just the property for you, or rather, the island.
Henry Island is a 220-acre remote isle off the coast of Nova Scotia’s picturesque Cape Breton Island that’s home to a four-bedroom, one-bathroom house and a 53-foot functioning lighthouse from 1902. The home itself was built in 1903 and has a red and white exterior that matches the striped lighthouse.
The last time the property was one the market was in 1991, when current owners William F. Baker and his wife Jeannemarie Gelin-Baker purchased it as a vacation home. Baker hails from New York City, where he served as president of the PBS flagship station in New York for 20 years, and before that, helped launch The Oprah Winfrey Show at Westinghouse Television.
Thiry-five years later, the Bakers are saying goodbye to their cherished island escape. “I think they’re just getting to the stage in life where they feel it’s time to pass the torch,” says listing agent with Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, Angie Bryant. “Mr. Baker is in his 80s and had hoped that his family would take over the island, but they all live in different parts of the world now, and it’s getting more difficult for [the Bakers] to get back and forth to the island.”
Henry Island has a rich history that predates William and Jeannemarie’s arrival by over 100 years. The windswept island was first settled in 1832 and named after the son of a Halifax admiral who was stationed in the city in the mid 1700s. In 1877, a post office was opened, and by the turn of the century, there was a general store that served fishermen who lived there during the fishing season. Those buildings have since disappeared, but a second lighthouse, which stands next to the home today, was built in 1902 and its last keeper manned the light until it was automated in 1962.
Separated from Port Hood by four kilometres of ocean, the island is only accessible by boat or helicopter. But those who make the journey are rewarded with “a pristine natural landscape of cliffs, sandy beaches, sheltered coves, mature forests, and sweeping ocean vistas,” reads the listing. It’s also a short boat ride to Inverness, which is home to the world-renowned Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs golf courses.
Interest in the property has been significant, as far as multi-million dollar island listings go. “There’s not a lot of buyers for islands, but comparing it to what I’ve seen from other island listings, I do think that there’s been some really positive interest in the property,” Bryant says.
Bryant sees the island likely being snapped up by a range of buyers, including those in search of a secluded retreat for personal use, a sentimental buyer who wants to preserve the lighthouse, or even a developer keen to tap into the tourism boom the larger region has been experiencing in recent years. Regardless, the appeal is the same, she says. “[Prospective buyers] are looking for something that can’t be replicated. And that is Henry Island.”
Related Story This 12,000-acre Georgian Bay island is on the market for $30 million
Related Story $699K for a Manitoulin Island cottage with two lots and more than 300 feet of shoreline
Related Story $2 million for an Algonquin Highlands cottage compound with 10 bedrooms