For about 50 years, this was my grandparents’ house. Gramma, and then my uncle, ran a restaurant called the Cottage Store adjacent to the house. Nicknamed the “Gag”, it was an institution for college students for decades.

My mother was raised in that house as were my aunt and uncles. My cousins, siblings and many a border stayed there from time to time over the years.

Myself, I spent two years (minus summers) while going to university with Gramma after my grandfather passed on. I have many fond memories of my time living there. When Rhonda and I married, we dropped in to visit Gramma and took pictures. It was always a stopping point when arriving or leaving Antigonish.

After she died, it was eventually and inevitably sold to the ever-expanding St FX and by and large stood empty.

It became a subject of study by the local historical architecture society.

The college finally got around to bulldozing it recently.

It’s hard not to be nostalgic and a little sad.

Picture by Daniel Jankowski.