Owners of a new vacation spot in Cape Breton hope Rita MacNeil’s enduring legacy will draw fans to their sprawling property.
The late East Coast singer-songwriter’s former six-acre home in Coxheath, N.S. has been repurposed as a three-unit Airbnb rental called Rita’s Retreat.
And the waterfront getaway has MacNeil’s past woven throughout the property.
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Inside, guests can sit at her grand piano or swim in a 15-metre saltwater pool chosen by MacNeil when she helped design the home in 1991.
The backyard features MacNeil’s beloved garden and a chair where the owners say she wrote some of her best-known songs, including “Working Man” and “Flying on Your Own.”
Property manager Victoria Serwatuk says her father is a longtime fan of MacNeil and thought keeping some of her items intact on the property would be a tribute to her lasting influence.
MacNeil died in 2013 after complications from surgery. She was 68.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2021.