Lunenburg
- For other places with the same name, see Lunenburg (disambiguation).
Lunenburg is a small fishing town in Nova Scotia that was established in 1753. Its Old Town is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. UNESCO considers the site the best example of planned British colonial settlement in North America, as it retains its original layout and appearance of the 1800s, including local wooden vernacular architecture.
Understand
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The Mi'kmaq lived in a territory from the present site of Lunenburg to Mahone Bay. As many as 300 inhabited the site in the warm summer months. French colonists, who became known as Acadians, settled in the area around the 1620s.
The town was founded in 1753 as one of the first British attempts to settle Protestants in Nova Scotia. Its economy has been based on the offshore fishery, and today Lunenburg is the site of Canada's largest secondary fish-processing plant. The town flourished in the late 1800s, and much of the historic architecture dates from that period.
Tourist information
editGet in
editBy car
editFrom Halifax, get on Highway 102 North (Bayers Rd.), then take Exit 1A toward Highway 3/Highway 333/Peggy's Cove/South Shore/Yarmouth. Merge onto Highway 103 West, then get off at Exit 11 (Highway 324.) Turn left on the 324 (Cornwall Rd.) for Lunenburg. For a longer, more scenic drive, take the Lighthouse Route (Highway 3), which goes along the coast and directly through Lunenburg.
From Yarmouth, take Highway 103 E to Exit 11.
By bus
edit- Maritime Bus, toll-free: +1-800-575-1807, info@maritimebus.com. Operates an inter-regional bus service between destinations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. .
Its route between Halifax and Lunenburg includes stops in Chester and Bridgewater. Travel time to Lunenberg from Halifax is 1 hr 45 min and from Chester is 50 minutes.
Get around
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There is no public transportation in Lunenburg, but it is small enough to be explored on foot. Trot in Time, outside the Fisheries Museum, gives tours of the town in horse-drawn buggies from May to October. Lunenburg Town Walking Tours run by local historian, Eric Croft, provide a look at the town's history as you walk through it.
See
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- Bluenose II. A replica of the original Bluenose featured on the back of Canadian dimes, spends much of the season in Lunenburg, where she was built. When she's in port, two-hour morning and afternoon cruises are available.
- 1 Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. Commemorates Atlantic Canada's fishing tradition with exhibits that include the schooner Theresa E. Connor, an aquarium featuring native species, a working boat building shop, and the steel-hulled side trawler Cape Sable. Guided tours are available in the summer season.
- 2 Lunenburg Academy, 97 Kaulbach St. Built 1894-95, Lunenburg Academy has been designated a Provincial Heritage Property.
- Sophie McLachlan's grave, Kaulbach Street. In 1879, 14-year-old Sophie McLachlan was accused of stealing $10 from her employer, a significant amount of money at the time. Everyone, including Sophie's own mother believed her accuser. Sophie suffered from increasingly debilitating bouts of anxiety. She always maintained her innocence, and at the end managed to write a letter citing Biblical passages relating to unjust persecution and forgiveness, and stating that she did forgive her accusers. Officially, she died of "a paralyzed heart brought on by extreme agitation and peculiar circumstances" A few months later, due to public interest and the high profile nature of her death, the son of her accusing employer confessed to the theft. Her grave now lies in a pleasant cemetery next to the Lunenburg Academy. There is a marker telling her story along with a wrought iron heart being pulled in two by the chains attaching it to the short fence surrounding her plot.
- 3 St. John's Anglican Church, 64 Townsend St, ☏ +1 902-634-4994. Built in 1753 during the towns founding, the church remains at the center of a vibrant spiritual community today. The church bell was made by the same London foundry responsible for Big Ben and the Liberty Bell. Many wooden beams were reused from the first King's Chapel in Boston, Massachusetts. A significant fire took place in 2001, and the church was later re-opened in 2005. Free.
Do
edit- 1 emOcean, 296 Lincoln Street, ☏ +1 902-640-8484. A fully integrated Health and Wellness spa nestled in old town Lunenburg. Specializing in overnight getaways - they take care of the details.
- 2 Pleasant Paddling, 186 Bluenose Dr, ☏ +1 902 541-9233. Offers sea kayak rentals, lessons and guided tours. The office is on the railway wharf but their guided tours depart from the Front Harbour, Back Harbour and Blue Rocks. No experience necessary.
Buy
editEat
editDrink
edit- 1 No 9 Coffee Bar, 135 Montague St, ☏ +1 902-634-3204, no.9coffeebar@gmail.com. 8AM-. Good coffee can be drunk in living rooms with arm chairs and sofas or in their garden.
Sleep
edit- 1 Alicion Bed & Breakfast, 66 McDonald St, ☏ +1-902-634-9358, toll-free: +1-877-634-9358. Check-in: 4:00 PM, check-out: 11:00 AM. Revival-style mansion built in 1911 as the family home of successful Lunenburg businessman, philanthropist, and federal politician, Senator William Duff. Bright and spacious rooms.
- 2 Bluenose Lodge:Victorian Inn & Suites c., 10 Falkland St, toll-free: +1-800-565-8851. Tastefully restored Victorian Bed & Breakfast Inn (circa 1863) that was built as a single-family dwelling for prominent sea merchant/builders Morash & Eisnor. Smoke free, no pets.
- 3 1880 Kaulbach House (Kaulbach Inn), 75 Pelham St, toll-free: +1-800-568-8818. Check-in: 4PM, check-out: 11AM. Bed and breakfast inside historic Kaulbach home. Each room has a private bath, TV and DVD player; there is a small selection of DVDs available in the parlour. A 3-course breakfast, served at 8:30AM, is set to classical music. $100-170.
- Lennox Inn, 69 Fox Street, toll-free: +1-888-379-7605. B&B dating from 1791. Claims to be Canada's oldest inn.
- 4 Wheelhouse Motel & Dining Room, 31 Knickle Road, ☏ +1 902-634-3353, toll-free: +1-877-997-9972, fax: +1 902-634-7141. Lobster/seafood restaurant. Two-storey motel, 18 rooms with 4-piece baths, clock radios, fans, colour cable TV and wireless Internet.
