Age of Sail Heritage Centre
Encyclopedia
The Age of Sail Heritage Centre (also known as the Age of Sail Heritage Museum) is a museum
and heritage centre
at Port Greville, Nova Scotia, Canada
. It focuses on the history of Parrsboro Shore
communities along the Minas Channel of the Bay of Fundy
with an emphasis on the area's shipbuilding and lumbering heritage.
Recreation and Development Group formed in 1981 to develop the Port Greville area. The group at first developed a picnic park on the old Red House Landing Site and worked on building and maintaining washrooms and a picnic area. In 1988 the chair of the group Ross Colins put forward the idea of a museum. In 1991, the Greville Bay Shipbuilding Museum Society was incorporated with the goal of protecting and preserving working heritage" with a "hands-on shipbuilding museum" focusing on the Parrsboro Shore
's extensive lumbering and shipbuilding history.
Later that same year the committee took on the task of clearing and cleaning the site and erected an information building. In 1992 the McLeod family donated a building, formerly the Cochrane Hall and originally a Methodist church built in 1854. It was dismantled and moved 2 kilometres to the site where it sat for a year as funding was raised. In 1993, reconstruction began.
In 1994, the Age of Sail Heritage Centre Museum was opened to the public. After its first year the centre won a provincial architecture award for innovative design. An expansion is underway for 2011 to provide public events, research and conservation space.
The museum is staffed chiefly by volunteers with community support. A curator as well as 2 or 3 students are hired per season. Items in the collections number over 2,000 with everything from period fashion, to hand tool, models and equipment as well as numerous photographs and archives. The museum is one of the attractions of the Fundy Shore Ecotour
.
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
and heritage centre
Heritage centre
A heritage centre is a museum facility primarily dedicated to the presentation of historical and cultural information about a place and its people, including, to some degree, natural features...
at Port Greville, Nova Scotia, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It focuses on the history of Parrsboro Shore
Parrsboro Shore
The Parrsboro Shore is an area of Cumberland County, Nova Scotia consisting of the shoreline communities west of the town of Parrsboro. The Parrsboro Shore is generally defined as stretching along the Bay of Fundy from the town of Parrsboro westward around Cape Chignecto as far as Apple River...
communities along the Minas Channel of the Bay of Fundy
Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...
with an emphasis on the area's shipbuilding and lumbering heritage.
The Site
The Museum consists of a number of historic buildings moved to a central site on the banks of a scenic ravine beside the tidal Greville River. The main building is a former 1854 Methodist Church. In addition to the original building the site is home to a cafe/gift shop, the Port Greville Lighthouse, a boat shed, a blacksmith shop and a band saw shed. Several walking trails lead from the museum to historic and natural features along the river.History
The heritage centre began with the Greville BayGreville Bay
Greville Bay is situated in northern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is attached to the Bay of Fundy and is often associated with Port Greville.Nova Scotia–born, Juno Award–winning jazz saxophonist Mike Murley recorded a piece titled "Greville Bay" on his 1997 Jazz Report Awards Album of the Year...
Recreation and Development Group formed in 1981 to develop the Port Greville area. The group at first developed a picnic park on the old Red House Landing Site and worked on building and maintaining washrooms and a picnic area. In 1988 the chair of the group Ross Colins put forward the idea of a museum. In 1991, the Greville Bay Shipbuilding Museum Society was incorporated with the goal of protecting and preserving working heritage" with a "hands-on shipbuilding museum" focusing on the Parrsboro Shore
Parrsboro Shore
The Parrsboro Shore is an area of Cumberland County, Nova Scotia consisting of the shoreline communities west of the town of Parrsboro. The Parrsboro Shore is generally defined as stretching along the Bay of Fundy from the town of Parrsboro westward around Cape Chignecto as far as Apple River...
's extensive lumbering and shipbuilding history.
Later that same year the committee took on the task of clearing and cleaning the site and erected an information building. In 1992 the McLeod family donated a building, formerly the Cochrane Hall and originally a Methodist church built in 1854. It was dismantled and moved 2 kilometres to the site where it sat for a year as funding was raised. In 1993, reconstruction began.
In 1994, the Age of Sail Heritage Centre Museum was opened to the public. After its first year the centre won a provincial architecture award for innovative design. An expansion is underway for 2011 to provide public events, research and conservation space.
The museum is staffed chiefly by volunteers with community support. A curator as well as 2 or 3 students are hired per season. Items in the collections number over 2,000 with everything from period fashion, to hand tool, models and equipment as well as numerous photographs and archives. The museum is one of the attractions of the Fundy Shore Ecotour
Fundy Shore Ecotour
The Fundy Shore Ecotour is a scenic drive in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and encircles several sub-basins of the Bay of Fundy, which contains the highest tidal range on the planet....
.