Sherbrooke is a
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...
community on the
Eastern Shore of
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
, Canada, in
Guysborough County. It is located along the
St. Mary's River, a major river in Nova Scotia. The community is named for
Sir
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
John Coape Sherbrooke
General Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, (29 April 1764 – 14 February 1830) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. After serving in the British army in Nova Scotia, the Netherlands, India, the Mediterranean (including Sicily), and Spa ...
, a colonial era
Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Gold was discovered in the area in 1861 and Sherbrooke entered a gold rush which lasted two decades. The economy of the community today revolves around fishing, tourism and lumber. The community is the site of an
open-air museum
An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum.
Definition
Open air is “the unconfined atmosphereâ ...
called "Sherbrooke Village" which depicts life in the later 1800s in the wake of the gold rush era.
Geography
Sherbrooke is nestled between
Sherbrooke Lake and
St. Mary's River.
The river was named for Fort Sainte-Marie, a French-built fort which was later taken over and destroyed by the British, and is renowned for its angling and its run of wild Atlantic salmon. Over the past decades the population of Atlantic salmon has decreased dramatically, and fishing of Atlantic salmon is strictly prohibited, as is catch and release.
The St. Mary's River is home to hundreds of different wildlife species, from the smallest insects to the many different predators. The St. Mary's River has a length of over and has three main branches, the east branch, the west branch, and the north branch. The branch feeds into the main river located by Sherbrooke, which then empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The St. Mary's River is home to the famous Atlantic Salmon, but as listed above they are no longer allowed to be fished due to their critically low population.
The river is also home to
bald eagles which make their home on old dead trees along the St. Mary's River, because of the food that await in the water below. If you are lucky, you may get to see one perched on an old tree as you drive along the St. Mary's River. Other common birds to see along the river are
Osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
, Great-horned owls, and a wide range of hawks. Another resident of the St. Mary's River is the wood turtle, which is a protected species. Surveys have been done along the St. Mary's River to learn the wood turtle population, their diet, habitat, and breeding grounds. A common species of fish to see in the river and its many estuaries is the Speckled Brook Trout, which as makes its home in sheltered waters and underneath logs that have fallen in the brooks. The brook trout is also a food source for many of the birds along the St. Mary's River.
History
Charles Baye de La Giraudière established a fort along the banks of the St. Mary's River in 1650, named Fort Sainte-Marie.
The fort was captured by the British in 1669.
James Fisher and his three sons from
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
were among the first settlers of the community in 1805.
The community is named in honour of
Sir
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
John Coape Sherbrooke
General Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, (29 April 1764 – 14 February 1830) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. After serving in the British army in Nova Scotia, the Netherlands, India, the Mediterranean (including Sicily), and Spa ...
, a colonial era
Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia
The lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia () is the viceregal representative in Nova Scotia of the , who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada, as well as the other Commonwealt ...
.
A
schoolhouse was established in the community in 1815 and by 1818, two sawmills, a
gristmill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...
and a post office were present in the community, along with about twenty houses.
A jail was opened in the community in 1827 and a courthouse was established in the community in 1858. A
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
meeting house was established in the community in 1832.
St. James'
Anglican Church was built in the community in 1850 and was
consecrated on August 15, 1885. St. Paul's
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
Church, built in nearby Goldenville in 1871, was moved to Sherbrooke in 1907.
Two new schoolhouses were built in 1850s and 1860s respectively.
Gold was discovered in the area in 1861.
Sherbrooke and surrounding communities benefited from one of several
gold rushes
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Ze ...
. Miners came from all over Canada and the United States to stake a claim in the
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
of the Sherbrooke area. Goldenville, being the most popular for miners, was a boom town. Previously as populous as it is today, in a very short time it grew to many times its previous size. The gold rush lasted about 20 years.
Mining was revived in the 20th century, but it did not achieve the success of previous operations.
Following the gold rush era, the economy for the area turned from gold mining to fishing, tourism, and lumber.
St. Mary's Memorial Hospital was opened on September 28, 1949 and St. Mary's Rural High School opened on November 14, 1953.
Amenities
Sherbrooke has a
Chinese/Canadian restaurant, a
Shoppers Drug Mart
Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. (named Pharmaprix in Quebec) is a Canadian retail pharmacy chain based in Toronto, Ontario. It has more than 1,300 stores in nine provinces and two territories.
The company was founded by pharmacist Murray Koffler in 19 ...
, an
Irving gas station, an RBC bank, an
RCMP
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...
detachment, a
Nova Scotia Liquor Commission
The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) is the Crown corporation which controls sales of alcoholic beverages and recreational cannabis in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the sole distributor for these products and runs all retail outlets (108 acr ...
store, and St. Mary's Memorial Hospital, which serves the District of St. Mary's. Saint Marys Education Centre/Academy (SMECA) is located in Sherbrooke. It serves grades primary-12 and covers the entirety of St. Mary's. The school was constructed in 2013, from the amalgamation of St. Mary's Academy (SMA) and St. Mary's Education Centre (SMEC).
Sherbrooke Village
![Sherbrooke Village Nova Scotia1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Sherbrooke_Village_Nova_Scotia1.jpg)
Sherbrooke is the site of an important regional heritage site and tourist attraction known as Sherbrooke Village, an
open-air museum
An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum.
Definition
Open air is “the unconfined atmosphereâ ...
depicting village life in the late 19th century. Founded in 1969 and part of the
Nova Scotia Museum
Nova Scotia Museum (NSM) is the corporate name for the 28 museums across Nova Scotia, Canada, and is part of the province's tourism infrastructure. The organization manages more than 200 historic buildings, living history sites, vessels, and speci ...
system,
Sherbrooke Village employs a significant number of local residents, estimated to around 100 full-time and seasonal workers. There are approximately 30 historic buildings including a working blacksmith shop, a pottery shop, a water powered lumber mill, which is located off site, a tea room (restaurant), and several animal barns which contain sheep, horses, cow, chickens, turkeys, and peafowl or peacocks. It also has an
Ambrotype photo studio which has operated continuously each summer since 1976. Sherbrooke village is the largest component of the Nova Scotia Museum complex. It is open in the summer months from June to October and at select times during the rest of the year.
In the winter, around the end of November there is a Christmas tree lighting, called "An Old Fashioned Christmas" that takes place in the Village and after the tree is lit a walk down the main street of Sherbrooke follows which leads down through Sherbrooke Village towards the ball field. Local groups throughout the St. Mary's Municipality decorate the doors of the buildings in the village. A community group also decorates the remaining parts of Sherbrooke Village.
References
Citations
Bibliography
{{cite book, last=Scott, first=David, title=Nova Scotia Place Names, year=2011, publisher=DESPUB, isbn=978-0-9865370-1-1, ref=NS Place Names Sheet Harbour
External links
Sherbrooke Village Museum St. Mary's River Association
Communities in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia
General Service Areas in Nova Scotia