The Doak Historic Site (also known as the Doak House) is a Provincial Heritage Site located in

Doaktown Doaktown is a Canadian village in Northumberland County, New Brunswick. The village has a prosperous lumber industry including the Russell and Swim sawmill, now owned by J.D. Irving Limited. Atlantic Salmon fishing is a very popular sport in ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, Canada. The farm was purchased in the early 1820s by Robert "Squire" Doak and lived in until 1979 by his family. Today it operates as a working farm with characters in costume offering tours and demonstrations. It is run in partnership with the Atlantic Salmon Museum also located in Doaktown, New Brunswick The site is open from late June until early September and closed during the winter. During the open months activities and classes are held. These activities include kids craft days, butter making classes, rug hooking classes, cheese making classes, weaving and spinning demonstrations and classes, hand processing of wool and gardening. Admission to the site is by donation.

History

Robert Doak was born in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on April 4, 1785. Originally on their way to settle in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, Robert Doak, his wife, Jean Kirkland, and two young children were forced into the harbor in

Miramichi, New Brunswick Miramichi () is the largest city in northern New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated at the mouth of the Miramichi River where it enters Miramichi Bay. The Miramichi Valley is the second longest valley in New Brunswick, after the Saint John River ...

, due to a strong storm on the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The family decided to stay in the Miramichi to settle and begin their new life. Robert Doak and his older brother James Doak moved up the

Miramichi River The Miramichi River is a river located in the east-central part of New Brunswick, Canada. The river drains into Miramichi Bay in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The name may have been derived from the Montagnais words "Maissimeu Assi" (meaning Mi'km ...

and bought a property from Ephraim Betts where the historic site is now located. At this time Doaktown was named Betts Settlement after the influential Betts family. Once settled he established a water-powered carding mill and

Gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

along with a

Sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

and oat mill. On top of this the family also ran a successful

Textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

business that consisted of

Weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...

and spinning yarn and fabrics. They also had a large working farm where they had horses, chickens, sheep, oxen and milking cattle along with cash crops. In addition to Robert Doak's farming and business pursuits, he also held important positions within the community. These positions included town clerk, clerk of the market, acting coroner, justice of the peace and many other positions throughout his life. His large success not only in this field but with his farm and businesses led him to being known as Squire Doak. In 1852 when the new highway connecting

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

to Newcastle was built Betts Settlement was renamed to Doaktown after the large influence that Robert Doak had on the area. The house and farm was passed through the Doak family for four generations. The property was lived on until 1979 when Robert Doak's great great granddaughter, Margaret Doak passed away and left the property to the New Brunswick Government. In the early 1980s the property was opened to the public as a provincial heritage site.

Infrastructure

The original house is located on the site and is valued for its vernacular architecture and modest classical influence. The house is also a reminder of the farm cottages found in Scotland where Robert Doak originated. There are character-defining elements that are associated with the house which include: * The house is a rectangular -story house * Narrow eaves with returns * Dormer wholly contained within the roof line * Clad in wooden clapboards * Corner Boards * Central chimney * 6/6 double hung windows * Shutters inside the house that pull out from the walls * Wooden shingled roof * Sandstone foundation * All artifacts are original to the site The original barn which inhabited the property for over 100 years was torn down in June 2016. An assessment completed in 2014 deemed the building to be unsafe and the barn was closed to the public due to structural damage and rot. The Government of New Brunswick is in the midst of reconstructing the barn. A small milk house is located on the property which was used to house the dairy products produced on the farm. Products were kept cool through a tunnel that was dug that brought water from a nearby stream to the milk house. The cold, continuous flow of water kept products cool. A school house located on the property dates back to 1822. The school was originally located a few miles down the road from the Doak Historic Site but was moved to the property to protect the heritage building.

References

{{coord, 46.5549, -66.1308, type:landmark_region:CA, display=title Historic house museums in Canada Houses in New Brunswick Buildings and structures in Northumberland County, New Brunswick Museums in New Brunswick