‘It’s a huge loss’
Landmark stone house in Upper Clements destroyed by fire
The RCMP are investigating after a stone building, which was once home to a haunted house at Upper Clements Park, was destroyed by an early morning fire on March 30.
The Prescesky house, owned by the Municipality of the County of Annapolis, was vacant and there was no power to it. Annapolis District RCMP investigators have determined the fire to be suspicious and is asking for the public’s help in solving the case.
“You just don’t expect that kind of thing to happen in this area,” said Paul Wear, president of the Clements Historical Society. “I knew that the building had been broken into and vandalized before, but it had appeared that the county had taken steps to prevent entry into the building.”
Wear said he was in a state of shock when a family member notified him about the fire. While the structure didn't have any heritage designation, it held special meaning for community members.
“It was a landmark for the community – a property you noticed when you drove by,” he said. “To see it suddenly be there no more, it’s a huge loss.”
Peter Prescesky owned a construction company that had the contract to pave roads in the region in the 1930s.
The story goes, he fell in love with the area, bought a large quantity of land and convinced his wife to build a house – a replica to their home in Montreal – there in 1930s.
Ware remembers it having beautiful gardens and always being in good repair.
The province purchased the property in 1972.
The province built Upper Clements Park, which opened in 1989, for $23 million. The municipality purchased the 10-hectare property in 2020 for $600,000 after the theme park closed in 2019.
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court annulled transactions with a developer because the council of the day rushed the finalization of the deal after it was no longer in power following a municipal election.
The municipality awarded Dexter Construction Ltd. a $496,500 plus HST contract to demolish and clean up the former amusement park site in February 2022. It didn’t include the stone house.
Annapolis County Warden Alex Morrison, who represents District 6 which includes Upper Clements, was driving to the municipal office in Annapolis Royal when he saw the fire trucks at the scene. He said it was sad to see the building destroyed by fire.
"It was a stately landmark,” he said. “A lot of people had an affection for it.”
Morrison said council has been discussing what to do with the property but hadn't made any final decisions.
A realtor, Ware estimated the stone house to be just under 3,000 square feet and of significant value despite needing some repairs.
“There would have been a market for that property,” he said.
Andrew Cranton, chief of the Annapolis Royal Volunteer Fire Department, said firefighters were called to the structure fire at 5:20 a.m. Upon arrival, he saw heavy flames coming out of the side of the building’s second floor.
“We did an initial attack to try to knock it down, but due to the construction of the building it was very, very difficult to gain an upper hand on the fire,” he said.
The building, which had a copper roof, was comprised of rock on the outside and a combination of pine and hardwood on the inside.
“Something that old is very dry and very combustible,” Cranton said.
“Once it got inside the walls and in the ceiling, it was very hard to try to gain the upper hand on it because of the contents of the roof,” he added. “We couldn’t pierce the roof to get at it because the structure was so high, so we ended up using an excavator to pull it apart – something we don’t like to do. …
“The only time we do that is when it’s absolutely necessary to extinguish the fire.”
About 50 firefighters from Digby to Middleton were on scene with the last firefighter leaving around 11:30 a.m.
“We’d like to thank all the volunteers for their hard work from our neighbours for our neighbours,” Cranton said.
“Volunteers are a dying breed and what we have, we have to preserve. All the help we received this morning was greatly appreciated.”
He noted community residents dropped off coffee and snacks, which were appreciated by the firefighters.
“The community support is just amazing around here and we can’t thank them enough.”
Nobody was injured during the fire.
The Office of the Fire Marshal attended the scene, but due to safety concerns and fire suppression activities, it was unable to conduct an investigation.
Morrison hopes police can determine what happened.
"It would, I think, relieve the minds of a lot of people, including me, to find out the cause,” he said.
Anyone with information on the fire is asked to contact Annapolis RCMP at 902-6654481 o Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www. crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips App.