Jaxon Cooke has grown up in Amherst, N.S., steeped in his family’s history. Relatives describe him as an “old soul” who loves spending time at the ancestral home, called Maria’s Place.
Jaxon learned to draw, paint, and play piano in the house, which was bought by the granddaughter of an enslaved African who bought his own freedom. He had sleepovers, take-out treats, built forts out of bamboo trees and loved scaring his friends with the “creepy” antique dolls in the 150-year-old home.
He was in the front parlour of the home when he was told his father Donnie had passed away.
As he turned 13 recently, he had one question
