Lovely, Lively Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Photo: Nova Scotia Tourism and Culture

In less than one generation, peasants of Lunenburg became fishermen and merchants before turning into prodigious shipbuilders. We owe them the famous Bluenose tall ships, the pride of the Canadian naval industry.

Flirty and fun-loving despite its age, Lunenburg was founded some 250 years ago, making it one of Canada's oldest cities. An acclaimed UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is possessed of a colourful history, eccentric architecture and crackling atmosphere.

BY LOUISE GABOURY

Lunenburg, the famously picturesque and historic seafaring town on Nova Scotia's south coast, was founded in June of 1753 by 1,400 settlers dispatched by the King of England to establish Britain's second colony in Nova Scotia (the first was Halifax). Most of the newcomers were peasants from Switzerland, Germany and France who had sworn allegiance to the British Crown in return for land and freedom of religion in the New World.

The area around Lunenburg was not particularly fertile, and within a generation, the settlers had abandoned farming in favour of working as fishermen, merchants and shipbuilders. In fact they turned out to be so good at shipbuilding ? the fabled Bluenose was built in Lunenburg ? that it became the focus of the town's bustling economy.

As their incomes grew, townsfolk began to upgrade their original makeshift houses, and a few of these so-called "paycheque houses" survive to this day in Lunenburg. Twenty-five years after the town was founded, residents were still fussing over the design of their homes and erecting increasingly imposing houses.

The building that best illustrates Lunenburg's unique architectural style, including the famous "Lunenburg bump," is the Morash House, built in 1876 at 55 Montague Street. The ornate façade boasts a prominent bump, a large extended dormer that projects over the front door. Joseph and Salomon Morash are credited with having invented the bump, a design feature that was quickly taken up by other townsfolk. No two bumps in Lunenburg are exactly alike, as a bump was a reflection of the homeowner's individuality.

Most of Lunenburg's handsome residences stand right at the curb instead of back from the street. As in many fishing communities, they are painted in the bright colours of fishing boats, and some of the architectural details reflect age-old seafarers' superstitions.

A number of houses have two facades, for instance; this was to fool the devil, who always enters through the back of a house. And because carrying a coffin through a door was thought to invite bad luck, some houses feature a "coffin window," built just large enough to manoeuvre a coffin through it.

All this distinctive architecture is so pristinely preserved that Old Town Lunenburg was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995 as an outstanding example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. There are some 400 major buildings in the old town, most from the 18th and 19th centuries, almost all of them wood.

With its remarkable architecture, carefully planned rectangular grid pattern, nautical nature and still-thriving maritime-based industries, Lunenburg is living history at its very finest.

For more information on this or other Canadian destinations, visit the Canadian Tourism Commission's website at www.travelcanada.ca.

source: Canadian Tourism Commision

This reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor has it been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Canadian Tourism Commission.