Down East Circle Part 5 - Chapter 3

1. With Jayne off in search of the laundry mat my Dad and I set out to tour the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, it’s built into several of the historic warehouses directly on the water front, at the foot of “old town” Lunenburg, just a few minutes away from our mooring by dingy. With the Bluenose over at the dry dock there was plenty of space to tie up our inflatable at the Bluenose dock next to the museum.

2. It’s a fun and informative museum with lots of hands on exhibits like the wood work shop, were they’re building a small dory.

3. The Cape Sable, a retired 1960’s side trawler is part of the museum and is great fun to tour. All if the vessels original fittings are in place including the navigation instruments in the wheel house and the stove in the galley.

4. While Dad relaxed on the boat Jayne and I spent the afternoon walking the quite and hilly streets of the old town, admiring the unique and beautifully painted homes.

5. Later we sampled the Italian Cuisine at a restaurant up town to celebrate our arrival, after many years of planning this trip. My Dad will be off to the airport, back to Vancouver tomorrow, it’s hard to believe he’s been sailing with us for 10 days.

1. Some of Lunenburg’s first European settlers were Protestant farmers brought from various parts of Europe by the British to clear and cultivate land. Fishing and shipbuilding did not become central to commerce in Lunenburg until the mid 1800’s.

2. Schooners were built in great numbers after 1873 when Captain Ben Anderson returned from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland with 200,000 pounds of fish. Along with the oceans bounty came vessels and hands tragically lost at sea, their names are marked, more than 800 of them on the memorial near the bluenose dock. Unfortunately bluenose is not there this year but is across the harbour at the shipyard for a complete multi-million dollar refit.

3. Lunenburg has a bit of everything if you like exploring, old houses, warehouses, docks, ships and churches, and if you don’t feel like walking there are horse drawn buggies.

4. We love to walk and like Lunenburg so much at this point we’re even considering moving here. Among many others there’s an interesting business that creates shopping bags and other items from recycled sails, it’s across the street from the builder of the Norseboat sailing and rowing cruiser. Adams & Knickle have a bright red storefront that has been open in the fishing and outfitting business since 1897.

5. There are many galleries, painting, crafts and of course folk art. We’ve arrived just at the right time to enjoy Lunenburg’s folk art festival. It will bring artists from all over Nova Scotia to the arena at the edge of town. We walked over in the hope of finding something unique for the boat and our house. Next week will be the Lunenburg Folk Music Festival, and we were treated to a preview by a fine fiddler and guitarist in the park.