Sherbrooke Village

    The French were the first European visitors to Sherbrooke, as early as 1655.  By 1815 the settlement which developed at the head of navigation became known as Sherbrooke, in honour of Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. For years the community prospered, supported by farming, fishing and, above all,  the timber trade.  Busy mills produced deal, planks, laths, spars, ships knees and shingles for the British and West Indian markets. 
    Then in 1861 the cry of "gold" was heard and the town became a lively, energetic mining camp.  By 1869 nineteen companies had flocked to participate in the discovery;  Sherbrooke boomed.  What some called Sherbrooke's Golden Age lasted about twenty years.  Mining was reactivated in the early part of the 20th Century, but was never as successful as before.  Lumbering continued as a major industry,  Until the restoration of Sherbrooke Village, visitors to the area were chiefly sportsmen fishing for salmon in the pools of the St. Mary's River.  The Sherbrooke Village Restoration Area was established in 1969 to conserve a part of Sherbrooke and depict a typical Nova Scotia village of the 19th century.

    Two years ago we did not have time to visit Sherbrooke but this time we arrived by 11:30 am so there was time to explore the village.  Our first stop was the blacksmith shop where there is a working blacksmith. Today the blacksmith  produces ironwork for the village restorations and for sale.  We watched the smithy work for a little while. 
At the 1850's Post Office we purchased some post cards of the village.  Next to the Post Office was the Printery where the village's printed material, including the paper shopping bags, is produced with hand printing presses.  From there we went to the St. Mary's River Salmon Museum.  It has a collection of photos of some of the sports fishermen from past years plus a collection of rods and tackle which were used.  At the Sherbrooke Drug Store an apothecary was demonstrating how to make rosewater hand cream.  The Tailor Shop has been restored to about 1900.  There are tools of the trade on display along with a hat maker.  Originally all the sewing was done by hand until the son upgraded the shop with a sewing machine that was powered by hand.

The Jailer's house is not only a home but also has the cells that were used by the village.  They even bake bread in the kitchen to give you a taste of life back then but since it was a hot day the stove was not being used.  Next we watched demonstrations by a furniture maker in his wood shop and a boat builder in the boat building shop. 

The village people are in period dress and speak knowledgeably about what would have taken place in their particular building.  The Ambrotype Photography Studio is located on the second floor of the General Store. It has been established as an operating studio where you can learn about photography techniques of the 1800's. There is also a photograph display of some of the building before they were restored.

Some other buildings we visited in the village included the Telephone Exchange, Court House, Cumminger House, Exhibit Center and the School House. The School House was built in 1867 and was used up until the 1960's.  Using plans issued in a report by the provincial superintendent of education one of the rooms has been restored to represent the time period.  There was a quiz on the school blackboard asking questions about Nova Scotia.
Debbi was able to answer all the questions correctly so she got leave class early that day.

We ended our visit at the Sherbrooke Hotel which was a operational hotel from the 1860's until 1918.  It is once again providing light meals for visitors so we had lunch.  The items on the menu were from the period and area.  I had a vegetable stew that was quite tasty.  We stopped at the Company Store on the way out and purchased a few items that were made in the village, then it was up the road to Antigonish.