Construction on the two properties that were to combine and become the Homeport Inn was completed in 1858. George Roberts built the property at #80 and his brother David built the twin home at #60 Douglas Avenue on a choice hilltop of land overlooking the harbour and the shipyards where their family fortunes were made. They maintained a close family association and built nearly identical houses in the rambling, informal, Italianate style popular at the time.
The Messrs. Roberts were grandsons of United Empire Loyalists from Central New Brunswick but the family’s land grant was small and of poor quality and could not support a third generation growing family. David and George moved to Saint John and joined the growing ranks of business, industry and professions.
They became successful merchants and lumbermen who turned to shipbuilding as their fortunes grew and eventually established a large fleet of vessels. In the publication ‘Saint John Ships and Their Builders’ the Roberts Fleet was described as “more truly a Saint John fleet than any other operating in the last three decades of the 19th century”. The Roberts prospered and maintained their Loyalist ties with a large volume of the family business carried on in England. In 1866, George relocated to Liverpool, and David continued in “The Colonies”.
It is from this rich maritime history and close ties to the sea that the owners Ralph and Karen drew inspiration for the Homeport Historic Inn.
The property at #80 was sold to a prominent local Druggist, Mr. T.B. Barker, who ran a shop at #35 King Street. Several old bottles with the Barker family name that were found during renovations are displayed in the house, along with receipts and papers dating back to the 1870s and ’80s.
This house had another brush with fame when, for a brief time, it became the family home of the celebrated Dentist, Painless Parker. This dental renegade became a millionaire in New York in the 1890s with his carnival-style painless dentistry medicine show. Several other long-term owners kept the house as a single-family home and in generally good repair until the 1980s.
The house at #60 did not fare as well. Over time, it was subdivided into several apartment units and suffered greatly from neglect and decay for many years.
Both homes were acquired by a developer in the late 1980s with the intention of tearing them down for a new development. In the process, the #60 property was abandoned and left open to the elements for three years. The developer, fortunately, did not get to realize his destructive plan, and the two houses were sold at auction to separate buyers in 1994.
The #80 Douglas Ave. property was in good repair and was purchased, restored and converted to the Homeport Inn in 1997 by the first Inn owners, Ralph and Karen Holyoke. They then purchased the property at #60 Douglas Ave. around 2000 and spent over a year completing full restoration and permanently joining the two houses with a spectacular new entrance and Grand Reception Hall.
After over 20 years of successful operation, Ralph and Karen retired from the Bed and Breakfast business in 2017, and this piece of Saint John's history was then taken over by Ann and David Wu.
In 2021, the torch was passed again to the current owners, Neil & Lalena Mack, and the adventure continues.