In 1749, after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the War of the Austrian Succession, Britain established the town of Halifax on the south shore of what is now the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia. The British felt an urgency about increasing their presence in the area, as the treaty had left Isle Royale (now Cape Breton Island) with its mighty fortress of Louisbourg in the hands of the French. The French also retained Isle St Jean (Prince Edward Island) and a number of fortifications and settlements in what is now the Province of New Brunswick. In 1753, the British built a second planned community a short distance west of Halifax. The original part of this settlement, Old Town Lunenburg, remains remarkably as it was in the 1750s. As the best preserved planned British colonial town in North America, Old Town Lunenburg was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

A Little History

The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) had forced France to cede most of what is now Nova Scotia to Britain. Importantly, France retained Isle Royale, and, within a few years, they built the great fortress Louisbourg on the island, as the guardian of the mouth of the St Lawrence River, the gateway to New France. So expensive was the construction of the edifice that its namesake, Louis XV is said to have remarked that he expected to look out of his palace window at Versailles and see the ramparts of Louisbourg looming over the horizon. Despite this expense, in 1745, New Englanders captured the fortress and town of Louisbourg, but it was returned to France at the end of the War of the Austrian Succession.

in 1755, two years after the founding of Lunenburg, the Expulsion of the Acadians began. In 1756, the town was raided by a small band of Maliseet soldiers allied with the Acadians, and several settlers were killed. By the end of the decade, however, Fortress Louisbourg had been captured and razed, Quebec had fallen in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, and French rule in North America had ended. In 1763, ten years after Lunenburg was established as a tiny British foot in the door of French North America, British forces put down Pontiac's Rebellion and Britain stood unopposed, for the moment, in North America.

The People of Lunenburg

In an attempt to counterbalance the French Catholic Acadian population concentrated in Annapolis Royal and Grand-Pré – before the decision was taken to simply remove them – the British imported large numbers of protestant Hanoverian colonists. Lunenburg's original population was almost entirely German-speaking and protestant, and the townspeople remained very much German for most of Lunenburg's history. Although they were brought to Lunenburg as a fundamental part of the defence of British North America, after the raid of 1756, events largely left the colonists and their descendants behind. For two centuries, life in Lunenburg continued virtually unchanged. German language and culture remained dominant into the 20th Century. The streets and buildings were maintained in the manner of the first generation.

The Plan and Construction Methods of Lunenburg

Lunenburg was laid out as a grid of streets: seven running north-south and nine running east-west. One block in the centre of town was left undivided, to serve as a parade ground. The other blocks were each divided into 14 lots. An area of land outside the fortifications was divided into garden lots. Each of the original colonists received a lot in town and a garden lot.

The vast majority of the buildings in the Old Town are built of wood, many with the 'coulisse' technique. This technique comprises timber frame walls with horizontal planks filling the space, rather than being fastened to the outside and/or inside of the frame: a technique very uncommon in North America. Over 60 per cent of the buildings are from the 19th Century. At least eight buildings survive from the founding period, including St John's Anglican Church, founded in 1754, the second oldest protestant church building in Canada. Tragically, this church, declared a National Historic Site in 1998, was severely damaged by arson in 2001. Meticulous restoration, replacing every piece of wood which had survived the fire into its original location, was completed in 2005. In the process of restoration, a remarkable and mysterious discovery was made in the starry painting on the ceiling over the altar. The unknown eighteenth century artist had painted the Eastern sky as it would have appeared over the site of Lunenburg at sunrise on the traditional first Christmas.

As they are today, the residents of the 19th and 20th Centuries were very conservative in their building techniques: throughout Lunenburg's history, repairs and new building have principally been constructed in wood, using original methods. The only major change to the appearance of the town has been the removal of the fortifications.

Lunenburg's Economy

Lunenburg quickly developed a booming economy, based on fishing and shipbuilding. The first fleet to fish the Grand Banks left Lunenburg in the 1850s. The fishing method in those days was for a few dories (small boats), each with a single fisherman, to be launched from schooners. Each fisherman would drop a few lines over the side, and slowly haul in fish, one or two at a time. At the end of the day, they would return with their catch to the schooner. When the ship was fully loaded, or when time ran out for the season, the schooner would return to port. In the 1870s, fishermen from Lunenburg schooners introduced the revolutionary double dory trawl method, in which a new, larger boat carrying two men set out a number of long trawl lines with hundreds or thousands of hooks. This method vastly increased the haul per man, and spurred Lunenburg to develop in a few decades from a fifteen schooner fishing community to a major port, which was home to over a hundred schooners.

The 20th Century saw the rise of factory fishing. Lunenburg remained in the forefront of the industry, becoming home for Canada's largest fish-processing plant, as well as a fleet of deep-sea trawlers. Lunenburg shipbuilders also continue to maintain their traditional skills.

Lunenburg Today

With the collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery, the single product which had done so much to build Lunenburg was no longer available. Today, tourism is the biggest industry in town, helped by the designation of the Old Town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 1995. Lunenburg is home to the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, and is the home port of the schooner Bluenose II, a living, sailing museum. The Town is also becoming a popular location for film and television productions.

The Parade Ground in the centre of Lunenburg is now a beautiful park, with the Town Hall and Court House in the west central portion. At the west end of the public space is the old firehall, now the Lunenburg Community Studio, where the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design holds art workshops and lectures for both the community and elementary and high school students. These workshops and lectures are conducted by members of the Lunenburg Community Studio Residency Program – recent graduates of the College. The program gives the graduates an opportunity to develop their studio practice, as well as offering a tremendous resource to the community.

Getting There

Halifax, the capital of the Province of Nova Scotia, has the closest international airport. From Halifax, take Highway 103 west. After about 75 kilometres, take the Mahone Bay/Lunenburg exit to Highway 3. Follow the Highway 3 signs through the centre of Mahone Bay and continue on 3 to Lunenburg.