Shelburne's Museums by the Sea

Shelburne's Museums by the Sea We stock unique Shelburne County-made items in our gift shop.

Shelburne's Museums by the Sea, situated in scenic Shelburne, Nova Scotia, is comprised of the Shelburne County Museum, the Dory Shop Museum and the Ross-Thomson House & Store Museum. The Shelburne Historical Society is an essential and integral part of life in Shelburne County, serving community members and visitors of all ages. Through collaborations and partnerships, we make our heritage vital,

relevant, and widely accessible. We are financially and environmentally sustainable, and support our community in its social, economic, and cultural development.

Sandy Point Lighthouse will be celebrating a birthday and the Bluenose will be sailing on to Clark’s Harbour. Come to t...
08/31/2026

Sandy Point Lighthouse will be celebrating a birthday and the Bluenose will be sailing on to Clark’s Harbour. Come to the Lighthouse tomorrow morning, Tue 1 Sep 2026, from 7 – 10 am, for a special breakfast and a wave goodbye!

Welcome to week 7 of , a weekly show and tell challenge by Nova Scotia Museum sites. The theme for this week’s challen...
08/31/2026

Welcome to week 7 of , a weekly show and tell challenge by Nova Scotia Museum sites. The theme for this week’s challenge is , which means that, at the Dory Shop Museum, we’re talkin’ fish!

The first photo shows what the typical catch would be for dory fishermen – cod, haddock, halibut and po***ck. The second photo shows what a 15-foot dory looked like on the water fully loaded with 1,000 lbs / 453.59 kg of fishing gear, 1,000 lbs / 453.59 kg of fish and two fishermen. With its flat bottom, the dory was very stable in the water, sinking down to the gunwale with the weight but very seldom flipping over.

Some interesting tidbits –
- Fishermen were paid $0.05 per head/fish, regardless of the weight of the fish. So, it was standard practice to throw back halibut weighing 100 lbs / 45 kg as they didn’t fetch any more money than a 5-lb / 2.26 kg fish. Eventually, this changed with fishermen getting paid based on the weight of the fish, so the heavier the fish, the more money they made. It is speculated that this change may have contributed to the start of the decline of stock in the Atlantic fishery.
- The fish in the photos are actually a large wooden puzzle. They were hand carved in 2022 by Dory Shop Heritage Interpreter Brian Ogilvie from wood left over from dories built at the Shop over the years. Brian also hand painted them.

Thank you to Brian Ogilvie and Darlene Rennehan for their assistance with this post!

Lots of excitement today, Sun 30 Aug 2026!
08/30/2026

Lots of excitement today, Sun 30 Aug 2026!

Shelburne’s Museums by the Sea will be closing at 1 pm today, Sat 29 Aug 2026, so the team can gather together one last ...
08/29/2026

Shelburne’s Museums by the Sea will be closing at 1 pm today, Sat 29 Aug 2026, so the team can gather together one last time before the seasonal staff start scattering to the fall winds. We will reopen on Tue 1 Sep 2026 at 9 am as per our regular schedule.

Today, we say goodbye to Drew Slauenwhite, our Student Heritage Interpreter at the Dory Shop Museum. That’s him on the left in the photo, recently going out in the dory with his sister, Brooke, and Heritage Interpreter Brian Ogilvie.

This was Drew’s first summer with us, and we hope it won’t be his last. He not only became an excellent museum guide in short order, but he also became a valuable team member, doing any job that needed doing, helping around the whole complex - and always with a smile. After expressing an interest in dory building, he also started spending some time in the workshop with Dory Builder Anne Poirier, going home at the end of the day covered in sawdust (our apologies to his mother), and still smiling. His biggest claim to fame this summer though was as the Dory Shop bouncer, politely redirecting visitors entering the Dory Shop without a museum pass to the front desk at the Shelburne County Museum. Visitors routinely came to the front desk joking that they “had been kicked out by our bouncer”!

We wish him well as he returns full time to his studies at Shelburne Regional High School and look forward to his return to Shelburne’s Museums by the Sea next spring.

Shelburne's Museums by the Sea - all three museums, the gift shop and the Visitor Information Centre - are open today, F...
08/28/2026

Shelburne's Museums by the Sea - all three museums, the gift shop and the Visitor Information Centre - are open today, Fri 28 Aug 2026, from 9 am - 4 pm.

PLEASE NOTE - Tomorrow, Sat 29 Aug 2026, Shelburne’s Museums by the Sea will be closing at 1 pm for a staff function.

It’s been a while, so we thought we’d take you on a stroll through the gift shop this morning!
08/27/2026

It’s been a while, so we thought we’d take you on a stroll through the gift shop this morning!

Two interesting photos this morning from the Shelburne County Museum collection.The first photo shows a woman sitting on...
08/26/2026

Two interesting photos this morning from the Shelburne County Museum collection.

The first photo shows a woman sitting on the side of a well. It was taken by Harry B. Bruegeman (1915-2008) of Hanover, Grey County, Ontario. A woodworker before the Second World War, Harry enlisted in the Navy as a Shipwright and was stationed at HMCS Shelburne in 1944-1945. After the war, he returned home and got into the insurance industry. The photo was taken while he was in Shelburne, but the print was developed later, in March of 1963. The woman in the image is only identified as "Shelburne Lady" on the reverse. The second photo shows Harry on the right, standing in front of the Atlantic House hotel with another servicemember.

Anyone recognize the “Shelburne Lady” or where the photo was taken?

Thank you to Curator Cady Berardi for this post!

We invite you to join us in the community room at the Shelburne County Museum from 4 – 6 September 2026, for a series of...
08/25/2026

We invite you to join us in the community room at the Shelburne County Museum from 4 – 6 September 2026, for a series of events entitled “No Longer Apart But Together: Interdisciplinary Art In/After a Global Pandemic”.

Fri 4 Sep, 7 - 9 pm
Monica will introduce her film “Apart But Together” - how it developed into a collaboration during the pandemic, and was eventually completed post-COVID. The first-time viewing of the film will be followed by introductions to Joanna, Diana and Shiva, and a public Q&A. The film will be shown in the community room until Wed 16 Sep.

Sat 5 Sep, 1 - 4 pm
Visitors are invited to an informal art/gathering with the three artists featured in the film “Apart But Together”. Diana, a poet and theatre artist, will present her work; Shiva will explain/demonstrate her multi-media processes; and Joanna will discuss/illustrate her move from concept to memory to painted imagery. Questions and discussion are encouraged.

Sun 6 Sep, 1 - 3 pm
Visitors are invited to attend an informal roundtable talk with local artists: Lorin Hesse, Braden Chetwynd, Jane Husan and Tanya Mars, as well as Monica, Joanna, Diana and Shiva. The discussion touches themes of the highs and lows of making art, creating in isolation, art collaborations, community attitudes and levels of support. The talk will be followed by light refreshments and a Q&A.

We hope you'll join us!

Welcome to week 6 of , a weekly show and tell challenge by Nova Scotia Museum sites. The theme for this week’s challen...
08/24/2026

Welcome to week 6 of , a weekly show and tell challenge by Nova Scotia Museum sites. The theme for this week’s challenge is , capturing the calm before the doors open at the Dory Shop Museum.

In this photo taken on a very early morning in late Sep 2021, the sun and wind haven’t yet chased away the fog that still hangs over a sleepy Dock Street and the staff haven’t arrived to prepare for the day. Our dory sits at its mooring beside the Dory Shop on Shelburne’s waterfront, patiently waiting to be taken for a row that signals the start of a new day.

Happening today, Sun 23 Aug 2026!
08/23/2026

Happening today, Sun 23 Aug 2026!

Address

20 Dock Street
Shelburne, NS
B0T1W0

Telephone

(902) 875-3219

Website

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