History of the Inn:
Briarcliffe was first built in 1914, by Edwin and Fedrica MacFarlane. Unfortunately, after suffering the loss of a child they couldn't have anymore children but had this wonderful huge house. So they decided to turn the house into one of the Islands first tourist homes and because of their Scotish heritage they named it Briarcliffe.

Briarcliffe was also a multi-purpose mixed farm with 400 acres. The farm was very diversified having beef cattle, a dairy herd, pedigreed horses, with a blacksmith shop and milking parlour on site, as well as many barns for crop storage.

The MacFarlane's were one of many Islanders involved in Fox Farming which was in its time a very lucrative industry....some of the old fox pens are still standing in our treed area of our property.

Being one the grandest houses in the area provided the opportunity for Edwin & Fedrica to host many of the community's gatherings like weddings, christenings and social events.

You will also notice that the Mc/MacFarlanes changed the spelling of their surname from Mc to Mac around World War I....we've been told that it was due to religion reasons but we're still investigating that fact.

The Homestead:
The original owner of the Briarcliffe property was Donald & Marion McFarlane and their family in 1799.

Donald was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1759. His brother, John, who was a medical doctor, sailed for America when Donald was ten years of age. The young lad ran away from home and hid in the ship his brother was to sail on. When the small stowaway was found, the brother was determined to send him back but little Donald stoutly maintained that he was going to America now or on the next ship, so he was allowed to remain.

Dr. John McFarlane, located in New York and upon arrival bound Donald to a Quaker in a Pennsylvanie foundry. Donald later spent time in Virginia but, at the time war broke out, he was working for a merchant in New York City. He served in the British army during the Americian Revolution(1775-1783), rising to the rank of sergeant. At the end of the war he found himself in Quebec. Donald had been promoted from a common soldier to a Commissary of a Regiment and was put in charge of one of the principal prisons in Quebec.

About 1784 McFarlane moved to Prince Edward Island, then called Isle St. Jean, and settled on a land grant of 200 acres on the south side of Wheatley River. There he met & married Marion Shaw in 1787 and moved his family of 6 children(eventually 11 children) to Bedeque and the Salutation Cove property in 1799. The original house was located down by the cove because at that time all travel was done by water. The house was eventually moved up in the early 1860's to the current site of Briarcliffe Inn

Donald had a long prosperous life, as a farmer, shipbuilder and serving as a member of the Provincial Legislature for 1790 to 1805 and died at the age of 84 on this land at Salutation Cove in 1843.