AN ARTIST COMES HOME

Mary Kennedy grew up in St. Martins. When she was a child, her parents owned a shack on the wharf – a place to keep their lobster fishing gear. (Her dad, Charles, was a sea captain!) Decades later, in summer 2018, Mary saw a larger shack on that exact same spot, and bought it.

Mary’s vision was an ice cream parlour where visitors could experience the art she creates with collaborative partner, Michele Woodey. The name Octopus came about when Mary took her nieces for ice cream in nearby Sussex. The girls were sampling each other’s cones and were keen on devouring Mary’s cone too, so when they asked what flavour she had, she said, “Octopus”. As Mary expected, they kept to their own cones.

Octopus Ice Cream was a call for Mary to move back home after a life as a professional artist and real estate developer in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario. She purchased The Love House, an inn just a few minutes walk from the Wharf.

The Love House was originally the home of Captain Love, a sea captain in the 1860s – one of the oldest homes in St. Martins. Now filled with Mary’s art, antiques and collectibles, The Love House is all about the Love of Art.