The Nova Scotia Museum of Industry is a provincial museum located in

Stellarton Stellarton is a town located in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is adjacent and to the south of the larger town of New Glasgow. In pioneer times the area was called Coal Mines Station, and from 1833 until 1889, it was known as Albion Min ...

, Nova Scotia, dedicated to the story of Nova Scotia work and workers. Part of the Nova Scotia Museum system, the museum aims to explain how Nova Scotia was affected by the opportunities and challenges of the Industrial Age. The museum began with a series of studies on ways to preserve Nova Scotia's industrial heritage beginning in 1974. A curator was hired and the collection was started in 1986. The Museum building (80,000 square feet) was designed by Halifax architect
Fowler, Bauld and Mitchell
and was completed in 1990 and the museum opened to the public in 1995. The museum occupies a site beside the

Trans Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...

which includes some of the oldest industrial sites in Nova Scotia including the Foord Pit, once the deepest coal mine in the world and the Albion Railway, the first passenger and freight railway in Canada. Samsonloco

The collection comprises more than 30,000 objects. Notable artifacts include the Albion Railway's Samson locomotive, the oldest railway locomotive in Canada and the Victorian, a horseless carriage, the first gasoline powered car built in the

Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

. The museum has extensive interactive galleries that explore the evolution of industry and work in Nova Scotia. Highlights include a large exhibit on

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

in Nova Scotia including a special display on the Westray Mine disaster which took place near the museum, on May 9th, 1992.

References

External links

Museum of Industry websiteMuseum Profile, Canadian Heritage Information Network
Museums in Pictou County Industry museums in Canada History museums in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Museum Buildings and structures in Pictou County, Nova Scotia {{Canada-museum-stub