The Kemp Mission House

Here in Kerikeri we have the Kemp Mission House which was built from Kauri by missionary carpenters and Maori builders in 1822 under the supervision of the Reverend John Butler as part of the Kerikeri Mission Station by the Church Missionary Society and is New Zealand's oldest surviving building. Samuel Marsden established the Anglican Mission with lay preachers who lived in the Bay of Islands under the protection of Hongi Hika, the chief of the local Ngapuhi tribe and in November 1819 Marsden purchased 13,000 acres from them.

Butler was sacked in 1823 and George Clarke lived in the building until the early 1832 when it became occupied by James and Charlotte Kemp who later purchased the house, lived in it and stayed in the family for 142 years. The house is weatherboard with a 2 storey georgian design that inclues a verandah and 2 chimneys. It also includes a heritage garden with orchards which has been cultivated over the last 200 years, is the country's oldest European garden and a tour is available for people to take. I wasn't able to go inside as it was closed on the day I was there. 

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