Lunenburg

Between 1630 and 1680 Acadians settled in the area where they survived by farming and logging as well as trading with the Mi’kmaq. Like many locations in Nova Scotia, the British followed a century later. They put pressure on the Acadians to declare allegiance to the British Crown. Additionally, tension between the British and the Mi’kmaq began to undermine the French community so that by 1753 only one Acadian family remained. The English encouraged protestant settlers to the area who began farming, but soon found fishing more lucrative. Fishers travelled as far as the Grand Banks catching cod that were plentiful at that time. During the prosperous eighteen and nineteenth centuries, beautiful homes were built. In 1862 the area west of Old Town was developed to make way for an increasing population. In less than twenty years the area doubled in size and became known as New Town.