Kent Cottage at Landfall (Brigus)
Kent Cottage was constructed around 1786 for the Pomeroy family. It was built on the Battery on the north shore of Brigus Bay, a gun placement site during King George's War from 1740-1748. The surrounding area on which the cottage was built was later known as Landfall. The area is also known as Freshwater as it was a main source of water for sealing fleets on their way to the ice floes. The original building was a small Georgian-style structure with a chimney made out of brick-ballast from ships arriving from England.
The Pomeroy family owned the dwelling for many years but finally abandoned it and used it as a barn. During his stay in Brigus (1914-1915), Rockwell Kent refurbished the cottage and added the west addition. Kent was an American-born artist and writer of Dutch extraction who first came to Newfoundland in 1910. The island's harsh winters, landscape and indomitable people inspired the artist and in 1914 he moved to Brigus with his family and resided in the cottage. The structure was featured in some of his paintings. Rockwell Kent left Newfoundland in 1915.
Albert Edward Harris a British artist and engineer purchased the cottage in 1929 to pursue his artistic interests. He named it Kent Cottage, for the English county of Kent. Many of his subsequent works were depictions of the scenes and landscapes of Conception Bay, including the cottage.
Harris died in 1933 and the dwelling remained vacant until 1953 when Rupert Bartlett purchased it. Shortly after, Bartlett sold the cottage to Bradley Jacob (Jake) Folensbee Jr. an American educator and artist from Seattle, Washington. Jake Folensbee renamed the property Landfall. He spent numerous summers between 1953 and 2003 at the cottage and created a buffer zone around the dwelling by purchasing adjoining lands.
After Folensbee's death in 2004, his estate helped create the Landfall Trust. Since 2005, the Landfall Trust has been dedicated to the preservation and conservation of the cottage and its surrounding lands. Over the years, the Landfall Trust has also partnered with The Rooms Art Gallery in offering a residency at the cottage for visual artists and writers.
The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador declared the Kent Cottage in Brigus a Heritage Structure in June 1988.
Also view the Landfall (Kent Cottage) Registered Heritage Structure on the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador web site or at the Landfall Trust web site The Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site has on its site only a portion of the registered heritage structures in Newfoundland and Labrador. To view a complete list or search for a particular structure visit the Heritage Foundation's Property Search page.
