Old travel Blog photograph of Dalreavoch Lodge, a late Victorian sporting lodge, once the haunt of Dukes and Earls, by Rogart, Sutherland, Scotland. Rogart was originally a scattered crofting village in the Highlands, until the opening of the Rogart railway station at Pittentrail 1.5 miles to the south east. A newer industrial village grew after the arrival of the railway in 1886, with the older village remaining. The village was the home of Major Andrew MacDonald born 7th of May 1721, who fought in the French and Indian War. In 1758 Andrew was sent to assist with besieging the Fort of Louisbourg. The French garrison resisted for just long enough to prevent the British from marching westwards to invade Quebec that year. The eventual capture of Quebec though earned him a promotion to Captain and a return to Halifax. His climb up the ranks continued and in 1766 he became a Major in the 59th Regiment. Rather than returning home when he retired on full pay in 1770, he remained in Halifax. He had settled there and had many friends among the Scottish merchants of the city. The year after his retirement he joined the North British Society and for the next quarter century he was an active and enthusiastic member of this philanthropic club. He is described rather formidably as having a ‘powerful and robust personality’! MacDonald worked to develop the burgeoning colonial town of Halifax. Despite having been settled in the colony of Nova Scotia for thirty years, in 1798 he decided to return to Scotland. For the final decade of his life, until his death in 1809, he lived where he had been born, in Rogart. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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