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Brenda Boudreau was smitten with the mansion in an instant. But it took months for her and husband Mike Jensen to unlock the grand old lady’s secrets and mysteries.

Take the three-storey home’s nine bedrooms, for instance.

“We couldn’t figure out how to lock the doors,” Boudreau says about the original hardware in the 1905 house in Gananoque, 25 minutes east of Kingston.

Then they started finding skeleton keys hidden in a linen closet and one of the bedrooms. In the basement, Jensen found some old books from the early 1900s containing maps and poetry, along with photo albums of the original family.

Less tangible was Boudreau’s discovery of the delights of polishing the well-preserved oak woodwork: “To see that little touch of what it once was — I can still feel that.”

The couple bought the 117-year-old house in early 2021, moving from Woodstock to be closer to family, including their two young grandchildren.

“Knowing its history and seeing its grandeur and elegance” meant instant attraction. “The moment I walked in the door, it just had me,” Boudreau recalls.

Built as a family home for Frederick J. Skinner, a prominent local manufacturer and provincial politician, it was designed by architect Frank T. Lent in the Queen Anne Revival style.

A short hop from the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands, it’s a stately standout on the street, with Tuscan columns, a multi-sided corner tower, gables, variously shaped windows, stained glass and a wraparound verandah.

The clapboard exterior — painted different hues over the years, including all white and now yellow — is decorated with pressed-metal garlands and panels.

Inside, the original trim and panelling, tin ceilings and floor plan, which includes a spacious double parlour, remain intact. Boudreau says the house, that features 9-1/2 bathrooms, was in “very good condition” and only needed minor upgrades and repairs. While some furniture came with the residence, she and Jensen turned to an antique store in Gananoque to source suitable supplementary pieces.

They changed their home’s name from Sleepy Hollow to Ruby Manor after their two-year-old granddaughter’s birthstone, and last fall they opened a bed and breakfast, using four of the bedrooms for guests.

The couple has uncovered intriguing details about the heritage home’s previous lives, such as its use in the 1930s as a birthing centre for moms who couldn’t make it to Kingston.

In the dining room, Boudreau learned the groove at the top of the wainscotting was meant to hold decorative plates. And the parlour, once considered a woman’s domain, was designed with windows that would provide ample light for needlework and two fireplaces decorated with a floral motif.

A large space at the top of the stairs on the second floor may have served as an unofficial office for the lady of the house who could hear what was going on downstairs but remain unseen, according to the manor’s history.

Boudreau says the house is like a dream come true. “I love cleaning it the whole weekend,” says the full-time nurse. “Being in there is like a dream come true, almost like a vacation.”

She and Jenson have discovered another highlight of Ruby Manor: they both love meeting people from around the world who stay with them.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” says Jensen, who makes breakfast and chats with guests before leaving for work as manager of an auto glass repair shop.

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