H.O. Wootten with son Ossie, daughter Cora and wife Emily (standing)
The property of six lots was purchased in approximately 1915 by Henry Oswald Wootten and Emily Louise Wootten (children Geoffrey, Philip, David Oswald (Ossie) and Cora).
The family lived in a tent on the property until 1917, when a three-bedroom plus sleeping porch house was built by Savary resident and prolific builder William Mace. They named the house “Heart’s Ease”. Mr. Mace constructed beautiful curved fir arches in recessed shelves in the living room. Mrs. Wootten was a teetotaler, so Mr. Mace was asked by Mr. Wootten, who was not, to include a secret compartment in a cupboard! George Bloomfield constructed the brick fireplace, also with a curved facade, and some years later built a brick porch and steps. He also constructed a fish pond in the back yard. A water tower was erected beside the house. It contained a room on the second floor where Lem, the Chinese cook, lived. A small house had been built for him but he preferred that upper room where he could see the ocean and have a flow-through breeze. Steep steps went down the east side of the house to a root cellar/ice chest. Alan Mace, son of Bill Mace, would deliver large blocks of ice he held by huge tongs to fill the ice chest regularly. There was a vegetable garden tended by Mrs. Wootten and Lem, as well as cherry, plum and apple trees. The plum tree was the last survivor and produced delicious yellow plums up until 2021 when it was felled by a storm. The stone pathway was made from Savary rocks and a whalebone marked the entrance to the path.
In 1920 Mrs. Wootten had a wooden tennis court built on a back lot, which was also used for dances after Sports Day.
H.O. Wootten died in 1919. Emily Wootten died in 1947 and the house passed down to Geoffrey (wife Helen and daughter Susan) and Philip (wife Roberta (Bobby) and sons Philip (Flip) and Christopher). The two families shared the house until 1953 when Geoff bought out Phil and the latter purchased a house three doors east.
For many years the garden was the scene of the hilarious Savary Island Property Owners Association’s annual fundraising auction, with Geoff acting as auctioneer.
Geoff Wootten
Geoff Wootten died in 1976 and the house passed to his wife Helen. In the early ‘80s, daughter Susan and her husband Stephen Jackson took ownership.
The house remains basically the same today, other than new windows and doors, and a renovation to the kitchen in the ‘60s which incorporated the sleeping porch, kitchen and dining room into one room. The fishpond is still going strong.
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