Built around 1786 for the Pomeroy family, this historic saltbox home was constructed using brick ballast hauled from the hulls of English merchant ships. By the early 20th century, the house sat abandoned as a barn until a brilliant, eccentric American artist transformed it into a masterpiece—and inadvertently triggered a international espionage scandal.
The irony that it wasn’t named after Rockwell Kent himself is also true. The designation profile on the Canada’s Historic Places Registry notes that British engineer Albert Edward Harris bought the property and named it “Kent Cottage” as a nostalgic tribute to his home county of Kent in England.
The Transformation (1914)
In early 1914, famous American painter, illustrator, and architect Rockwell Kent moved his family to Brigus to establish an art colony. He leased the dilapidated Pomeroy house, completely restored it, and built a custom west-end addition featuring a towering art studio.
Kent painted vibrant murals directly onto the home’s interior doors and mantels. He fell deeply in love with the Newfoundland landscape, writing that the coastal cliffs made him feel like he was living at the edge of the world.
The Spy Scandal (1915)
When World War I erupted in August 1914, the isolated, tightly-knit community of Brigus grew deeply suspicious of the American artist. Kent did not hide his pro-German geopolitical views, frequently sang German songs in his studio, and possessed high-end chart-mapping equipment for his art layout work.
Local residents became convinced that Kent was a German spy using his cliffside cottage to signal enemy U-boats hiding out in Conception Bay. The rumors reached a boiling point in early 1915. Under the authority of the War Measures Act, the colonial government officially labeled Kent an undesirable alien and deported him and his family from Newfoundland under threat of imprisonment.
The Legacy of “Landfall”
Fourteen years after Kent’s forced departure, an English engineer named Albert Edward Harris bought the property and officially named it “Kent Cottage“—not after the artist, but as a nostalgic nod to his own home county of Kent in England.
Today, the cottage and its surrounding 11 acres are managed by the Landfall Trust of Newfoundland. It operates as a preserved historical site and an off-grid sanctuary, hosting international artists and writers who come to create in the exact same studio where the Pomeroy family once lived and Rockwell Kent painted.
- The 1786 and Pomeroy Connection: Official provincial records state the original Georgian saltbox structure was built around 1786 for the Pomeroy and Norman families on “The Battery” using ships’ brick ballast for the chimney. The Pomeroys lived there for much of the 19th century before it fell into disrepair. [2, 3]
- The Rockwell Kent Timeline: Rockwell Kent leased the property in 1914, renovated it, and built the western studio wing where his murals still exist on the doors. [2, 5, 6]
- The Spy Deportation: This is a famous piece of Canadian wartime history. During WWI, local suspicions about his pro-German comments, singing, and mapping gear boiled over. The Newfoundland colonial government officially used the War Measures Act to deport him in 1915. [2, 7]
- The Name “Kent Cottage“: It sounds like it was named after Rockwell Kent, but it was factually named in 1929 by an English buyer, Albert Edward Harris, who named it after his beloved birth county of Kent in England. [2, 6]
[2] https://www.heritage.nf.ca
[4] https://www.heritage.nf.ca
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