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Historic Destination (1)
Birchtown - Black Loyalist Heritage Site
Birchtown
Minutes west of Shelburne on Highway 3
This idyllic site, nestled around Birchtown Bay and maintained by the Black Loyalist Heritage Society offers the perfect 'time out' spot. If you have descendants who escaped slavery in the 1780s and made their way to Nova Scotia, this is one place to do your genealogical digging.
Black Heritage Trail
(sponsored by Historica)
Children can run through the well-maintained Black Heritage Trail, while other family members can sit at the picnic site on the banks of the Bay and enjoy the view as the fresh sea air heals the soul. Take a step out of the present into the slower pace of the past.
Come and celebrate the history of this storied Black community once one of the largest settlements of free Blacks in North America.
| Numerous archaeological surveys and digs sponsored by the Society have uncovered over 16,000 artifacts including Chinese porcelainware and military buttons. Additional findings from archaeological and historical investigation include: the discovery of a burial ground containing the remains of Black Loyalists and their decendants; fascinating pit-homes and settlement patterns; as well as unexplained human-constructed rock formations, perhaps representative of an African cosmological or navigational system! |  |
Museums, Archives, Memorial Sites
Black Loyalist Heritage Site
Old Birchtown Road, Minutes west of Shelburne on Highway 3
Featured on this site is a Museum housed in a restored, late 19th-century, one-room schoolhouse; a historic Anglican Church; a Black Burial Ground, heritage walking trail; giftshop and genealogical/historical research services available at the Society's offices.
Museum Open: June 2 - September 1;
Office, Giftshop and
grounds open year-round.
Picnic area with washroom facilities. Parking available on site.
Tel.: 1.902.875.1310
Toll-free: 1.888.354.0772
Order free Destination Liberty travel brochure
Key: (#) = number on Destination Liberty map