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Writing the History of Your Home or Property
The holdings at NSARM are incredibly rich for built-heritage research — but as we've demonstrated many times in this Resource Guide, additional resources to feed your research can be found in many other locations around the province — in town or county museums, archives and libraries; in land registration and probate offices; and in town or municipal-planning offices. Some municipalities in Nova Scotia, aware of the responsibilities and opportunities brought by built heritage, now employ a Heritage Officer or have an active Heritage Advisory Committee.
Once you've finished exploring the obvious research sources for your home, property or special built-heritage interest, you should compile the results into an organized format for yourself and your family, perhaps arranging the information in chronological order or by type of document. We also strongly encourage you to take your project to its logical conclusion by writing an actual history of your home or property — and then depositing a copy with your local archives, museum or library. In this way you can share the rewards of your research and help preserve the knowledge of built heritage within your community.
Perhaps you'd like to read samples of other histories? By going to the Nova Scotia Historic Places Initiative website and clicking on 'Search for Properties', you'll find various histories of registered heritage properties around the province, with accompanying photographs. You can search for buildings there by county, by Tourism Trail (Evangeline Trail, Marine Drive, Sunrise Trail, etc.) or by the name of the heritage property.
You'll probably never be able to answer every question that you have regarding the past life of your home or property. However, as your research unlocks various doors, yielding bits and pieces of useful information, you'll gradually be able to construct a satisfying history of the place that shapes your present life — and along the way, you'll learn a great deal about the built heritage of this province. We wish you good hunting and rewarding results!
Looking for more information?
Try the 'Nova Scotia Register of Historic Places', which in turn is linked to the larger national 'Canadian Register of Historic Places.' The Nova Scotia Register is a content-rich online database offering photographs, descriptions, histories and location details for officially registered heritage buildings and places in Nova Scotia. Created and administered by the Nova Scotia Historic |  |
Places Initiative (NSHPI), the Register provides 'one-stop-shopping' for information about houses, churches, canals, cemeteries and other historic places throughout the province.
If you own a heritage home, you may also want to find out more about Heritage Property Program, administered by the Heritage Division, Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage.
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