Once upon a time

John Crafford, who emigrated from Scotland in 1753 to find a better future in America, fled the life he had built for himself and his family in Massachusetts to start all over again thirty years later. He was one of some fifty thousand New Englanders who wanted to remain loyal to King George III during the American Revolution.

The house he built, in St. Andrews in a region that would become the province of New Brunswick in Canada, stayed strong for two and a half centuries.

Once Upon a Time: A Loyal House documents in words, sketches, and photographs the true story of the transfers of ownership of John Crafford's house through fourteen generations. Events that happened globally and locally which impacted upon the residents of the house are recounted.

The book ends on a speculative note: what may be the forces that one day conspire to tear the much-loved home of fourteen generations of owners apart? The answer to this question has an underlying hope: after two and a half centuries of loyal service, the loyal little house at 113 Montague Street has surely earned the right to stand until the end of time.