Grovehurst was established in Hubbards, Nova Scotia in the late 1920s by Major Herbert Elliot Gates, as his summer residence.
Major Gates was a prominent Halifax architect, and Eleanor was his English bride. A wonderful site plan exists, dated from 1932, depicting the house, vegetable plots, numbered tree groves and carriage road on the original property.
The Major and Eleanor had no children. They died in 1944 and 1937 respectively, and are buried in Pine Hill cemetery in Hubbards.