Lunenburg by the Sea

Agriculture and Industry

The Reverend James Monro, writing in his History and description and state of the Southern and Western townships of Nova Scotia in 1795, observed that the farms in Lunenburg Township were well cultivated and presented an agreeable appearance. He also noted "the fields with grass and grain and the pastures with Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep all which are here to be seen in abundance. The farms as far as my eye could reach Seemed to be in good order."

Captain Moorsom, in the 1820s, also commented on both the local farms and the industriousness of those who tilled them: "The German character has been amply displayed in bringing a soil naturally rugged into a state of comparative fertility. Many substantial farms are scattered all around the neighbourhood..."

By the mid-twentieth century, slow-plodding pairs of oxen had become an endearing and enduring symbol of Lunenburg County. Will R. Bird, writing in These are the Maritimes (1959) recalled a particular visit and a thriving tourist promoter: "an elderly gentleman wearing a straw hat popular twenty years ago was most eager to help us. He said if we wanted a picture of yoked oxen to go two blocks and we would find a man who kept a pair and tourists photographed them almost every day of the summer."

Over the years, Lunenburg's economy gradually came to have a much broader base than farming and fishing. A booklet produced to celebrate Lunenburg's bicentennial in 1953 described an amazing variety of diversified industries at the mid-century point:

At the head of the harbour is the local foundry, which manufactures marine engines, vessel equipment, and conducts general refits and repairs for all types of ships. The central section of the waterfront is comprised of a large fresh fish plant and four salt fish establishments, where schooner cargoes are processed and exported to foreign markets. The marine railway and the shipyard are situated at the eastern end of the harbour.

The booklet then went on to list Lunenburg's light industries, which still included four blacksmiths and two cobblers, plus two tailors, two plumbing and heating contractors, two boat-builders, one lumber mill, two photographers, a blockshop, a sailmaker, a manufacturer of nets, seines and trawls, a firm of marine and industrial engineers and contractors, a dairy, a baker, a cleaning and pressing establishment, a newspaper, and a florist.