GASPE/ATLANTIC PROVINCES 2013: Day 22 - Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Well, another fine morning presented itself for our guided tour of the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. We lined up, once again, to rideshare the short distance into downtown Lunenberg to get ready to start our day. Guy Grube waved as he anxiously awaited our departure.

Waiting patiently outside until they opened at 9:30 a.m., some were trying to seek shade as the temperature on the asphalt, in bright sun, began to rise.

Finally they opened the doors and we were split into two groups. Our group (the evens) went with Jon, a nice young man working here at the museum this summer. The other group (the unevens aka the “odds”) went with Lisa to start their tour elsewhere.

Jon took pity on us, having had to wait out in the sun, so started his tour in the air-conditioned Ice House Theater where he oriented us to the layout of the museum. The theater used to be the actual location of the ice house for the local fishing industry. Jon told us that while on board the ship the men crafted in many different ways to occupy themselves on the sometimes month or longer voyage. We were then able to wander around and view the various sections of the third floor.

One interesting section was devoted to a painter, Earl Bailley, who contracted polio as a child. He was paralyzed from the shoulders down but learned to paint by holding the brushes in his mouth. His specialty was the seascapes surrounding his hometown of Lunenburg.

The Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic is located on the waterfront in the seaport of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Lunenburg is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. (A World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization (UNESCO) as of special cultural or physical significance.) There are currently only 981 such sites worldwide.

The museum started in 1967 with the schooner, Theresa E. Connor, Canada’s oldest saltbank schooner, which was built right here in 1938. We were treated to a tour of her as well.

While on board, we assembled in the dining room for a photo op.

What do you imagine Spence is thinking………”now, THAT is an engine!”

While we were in the Captain’s Quarters, I think I saw a picture of one of George Meiser’s relatives!! What do you think?

Lunenburg is also famous for the Bluenose, a Canadian fishing and racing schooner built in 1921. She is so admired here, that her image appears on the Canadian dime, as well as a postage stamp.