MacRae-Bitterman House

The MacRae-Bitterman House is valued for its vernacular stone construction and its association with the settlement of the highland Scottish immigrants.

The MacRae-Bitterman House was constructed using irregular and slightly coursed fieldstone in a combination of the traditional Scottish style and North American construction design; few houses built in this manner exist today. The house is an excellent example of the Highland Scottish style immigrant stone house. It has a central fireplace, hipped roof and wall of irregular fieldstone, while traditional Lowland houses are of regular and fully-coursed cut ballast stone and have two gabled roofs and an end chimney.

The MacRae-Bitterman House was built in the mid-nineteenth century (prior to 1856) by John MacRae, a Scottish immigrant. MacRae, like many Scottish immigrants, was given a two-hundred acre lot and probably built a wood-frame or log house on the property first. Reportedly the wooden house was destroyed by fire and MacRae proceeded to build the stone house. Using local materials in a style that reflects a combination of local building traditions and the Scottish cottage style; a style that MacRae would have known from his homeland. Several other similar stone houses that were built by Scottish immigrants still exist in Cape Breton. The house remained in the MacRae family until 1919. It later fell into disrepair and was vacant before being restored and the wooden side addition, that historically was present and later removed, was rebuilt.