Cossit House looks much as it did when Anglican garrison minister, Reverend Ranna Cossit, built it in 1787. The Anglican Church, the official Church of England, played an important role in a colony made up of Loyalists who remained loyal to the British Crown throughout the American Revolution (also known as the Revolutionary War or the American War of Independence) from 1775 to 1783.
The main waves of Loyalists came to what is now Canada in 1783 and 1784, with a large portion (approximately 30,000) settling in coastal communities in the Maritime Provinces. A colony in Sydney was settled to accommodate an influx of Loyalists fleeing the end of the Revolution.