First published: 14/08/18.

Craig Harder 5.0

Old Town Lunenburg

Old Town Lunenburg (Inscribed)

Old Town Lunenburg by Craig Harder

Visited 20JUL 2018

This lovely town is exemplary of how good planning can create beauty.  There are so many great old buildings that have been preserved in this fishing village. 

In 1753, the British founded Lunenburg as their first colonial outpost in Nova Scotia beyond Halifax. The first settlers arrived in June 1753. Mostly Protestant German, Swiss and French colonists, the settlers participated in a formal lottery, choosing cards to determine the plots of land upon which they would settle and build.

The settlers soon discovered that the land was poorly suited to farming. European farmers, faced with rocks, stumps and stubborn soil, became rugged North Atlantic seafarers within two generations.

Through the nineteenth and well into the twentieth centuries, Lunenburg became famous for the quality of its schooners, which fishermen sailed to the fish-rich Grand Banks off Newfoundland and the Western Bank off Sable Island.

The queen of the schooner era was the famous Bluenose, launched at Lunenburg in 1921, and it is still displayed prominently on the Canadian 10 cent coin!

It is a pleasure to see the different styles and colours and a photographer’s wonderland.  Many of the homes have little signs telling the name and job of its historical owners.  This is a relaxing and easy site to do, with the hills giving a good chance for exercise, and good restaurants, shops and hotels in close proximity, making it a traveller’s delight.  It was difficult to leave this area.

 

Comments

No comments yet.

Post your comment
Required for comment verification