The Homestead was built in 1856 as a farmhouse. In 1864, the Macphail family bought the property, the same year Andrew was born. The farm allowed the family to be self-sufficient while Andrew’s father, William Macphail, travelled as the Superintendent of Education. Growing up, Andrew and his siblings did the farm work and dreamed of escape! They understood that education was key. At fifteen, Andrew received a scholarship to the Prince of Wales College. This allowed him to receive university qualifications to teach in PEI. He taught in Malpeque for close to three years before going to McGill University in Montreal to earn degrees in Arts and Medicine. Andrew lived in Montreal for the remainder of his life. He had a medical practice, married, and had two children. Sadly, Andrew’s wife Georgina died in 1902 when their children were very young. This was traumatic for Andrew and he could not speak of his wife again, and never remarried. Following his wife’s death he entered academia, becoming the first professor of The History of Medicine at McGill University. From 1905 he spent every summer in Orwell other than the War years.

Sir Andrew was not only a renowned doctor and scholar, but was also a talented writer, writing for newspapers, magazines and journals, and publishing ten books. The Masters Wife is his most critically acclaimed book, published in 1939, one year after his death. This book gives the reader an in-depth view of the Macphail family, the Island life and the social history of PEI. The Homestead remained in the Macphail family until 1961, when the property was donated to the government. The house was vacant for twenty years before it was completely restored, and now visitors can be swept back to the nineteenth century to see how the Macphail family would have lived.