PEI

P.E.I.'s historic Glenaladale wins $15K prize in national contest

The Glenaladale Heritage Trust has been awarded $15,000 in the national heritage contest called This Place Matters.

'We're really pleased with the number of votes we got'

The Glenaladale trust will use the $15K prize to restore the old Tracadie Schoolhouse on the property. (Submitted by Mary MacDonald-Gallant)

The Glenaladale Heritage Trust has been awarded $15,000 in the national heritage contest called This Place Matters.

The 1772 estate in Tracadie, P.E.I., is where Captain John MacDonald brought the first Scottish Catholic settlers to P.E.I. A group is now working to restore the property. 

"We were extremely excited," said Mary Bradley, who is on the board of the trust. 

"We're really pleased with the number of votes we got," she added, noting more people have become aware of the project to restore Glenaladale. 

Glenaladale was one of four eastern Canadian projects vying for the prize money, and won with more than 4,000 votes. The trust called its project "Glenaladale… one brick at a time, our diamond in the rough."

The $15,000 will be used during phase one of the restoration, Bradley said, to repair the roof and floor joists of the 1899 Tracadie schoolhouse moved to the property in the 1970s. The schoolhouse will be moved one last time to become a gateway to the historic property, housing artifacts of the site.

This Place Matters bills itself as Canada's first crowdfunding site dedicated to heritage.

With files from Laura Chapin