List of National Historic Sites of Canada in Nova Scotia

This is a list of National Historic Sites of Canada in the province

Provinces and territories of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...

of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

. There are 87 National Historic Sites designated in Nova Scotia, of which 26 are administered by Parks Canada

Parks Canada

Parks Canada , also known as the Parks Canada Agency , is an agency of the Government of Canada mandated to protect and present nationally significant natural and cultural heritage, and foster public understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative...

.

This list uses names designated by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, which may differ from other names for these sites.

National Historic Sites

Acacia Grove / Prescott House
Prescott House Museum
Prescott House is a historic house located in Starr's Point, Nova Scotia which is part of the Nova Scotia Museum. Built between 1812 and 1816 by Charles Ramage Prescott as the centrepiece of his country estate called "Acacia Grove", it is one of the best preserved Georgian houses in Atlantic Canada...

– Georgian home of horticulturalist Charles Ramage Prescott
Charles Ramage Prescott
Charles Ramage Prescott was a merchant, noted horticulturalist and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented the town of Cornwallis in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1818 to 1820....
Admiralty House, Halifax – Exceptional 1819 Palladian style naval residence
Africville – Community representative of Black settlement in Nova Scotia; an enduring symbol to Black Canadians
Akins House – Early vernacular building, circa 1815
Alexander Graham Bell Museum
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....

– Commemorates famous inventor
Annapolis County Court House – Archetypical 1837 Palladian style colonial court house
Annapolis Royal Historic District – Strategic colonial capital with evolved townsite plan
Antigonish County Court House – Typical mid 19th century Maritime court house, 1855
Argyle Township Court House and Jail – Oldest known surviving combined court house and jail
Beaubassin
Beaubassin
Beaubassin was the first settlement on the Isthmus of Chignecto, Nova Scotia, which was Acadian. The area is now known as the Tantramar Marshes. Beaubassin was settled in 1672, the second Acadian village to be established after Port Royal. The village was one of the largest and most prosperous in...

– Major Acadian
Acadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...

settlement; pivotal place in the 17th- and 18th-century North American geopolitical struggle between the British and French empires. Designated: 2005 Location: Fort Lawrence 45.848494, -64.266801
Bedford Petroglyphs – Spiritually significant petroglyph
Petroglyph
Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...

site
Black-Binney House – Palladian urban residence, 1819
Bloody Creek – Site of two French-English combats, 1711 and 1757
CSS Acadia
CSS Acadia
CSS Acadia is a former hydrographic surveying and oceanographic research ship of the Hydrographic Survey of Canada and its successor the Canadian Hydrographic Service....

– Pioneering research ship, Lead role in charting Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...

, launched 1913
Canso Islands – Site of fishing centre, 16th- to 19th century. Designated: 1925 Location: Canso Islands 45.344348, -60.971203
Cast Iron Façade / Coomb's Old English Shoe Store – Rare and early example of full cast iron façade, 1860
Chapel Island
Chapel Island (Canada)
Chapel Island is an island in Bras d'Or Lake on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Its name in the Mi'kmaq language is Mniku but other names such as Vachlouacadie and Pastukopajitkewe'kati which translates to "sea cow place".It is the capital of Mi'kmakik. The island is a sacred aboriginal...

– Important gathering place, a location for government and a site of spiritual significance to the Mi'kmaq
Chapman House – Prosperous late-18th-century farmhouse, 1770s
Charles Fort – Site of Sir William Alexander
William Alexander (the younger)
Sir William Alexander was the founder, in 1629, of the Scottish colony at Port-Royal, now the site of modern Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. He also built forts in Cape Breton then in Port Royal. He was the son of colonizer William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling, but predeceased his father and...

's settlement, 1629–31. Designated: 1951 Location: Annapolis Royal 44.740801, -65.519907
Covenanters' Church – Historic Presbyterian meeting house, circa 1804–11
D'Anville's Encampment
Duc d'Anville Expedition
The Duc d'Anville Expedition was sent from France to recapture peninsular Acadia . The expedition was the largest military force ever to set sail for the New World prior to the American Revolution. The effort to take the Nova Scotian capital, Annapolis Royal was also supported on land by a force...

– French expedition to retake Louisbourg, 1746. Designated: 1925 Location: Halifax 44.674718, -63.646548
Debert Palaeo-Indian Site – Archaeological remains of Aboriginal caribou hunting
Fernwood – Gothic Revival villa, circa 1860
Fort Anne
Fort Anne
For a similarly named fort in New York City see: Fort AmsterdamFort Anne is a typical star fort built to protect the harbour of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. The fort repelled all French attacks during the early stages of King George's War....

– 1695–1708 fortifications. Designated: 1920 Location: Annapolis Royal 44.741243, -65.518534
Fort Edward
Fort Edward (Nova Scotia)
Fort Edward is a National Historic Site in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada and was built during Father Le Loutre's War. The fort was created to help prevent the Acadian Exodus from the region...

– Played a role in the struggle for predominance in North America, 1750–1812; oldest blockhouse in Canada, 1750. Designated: 1920 Location: Windsor 44.995397,-64.132692
Fort Lawrence
Fort Lawrence
Fort Lawrence was a British fort built during Father Le Loutre's War and located on the Isthmus of Chignecto .-Father Le Loutre's War:...

– British fort, 1750–55. Designated: 1923 Location: Fort Lawrence 45°50'51"N 64°15'40"W
Fort McNab
McNabs Island
McNabs Island is the largest island in Halifax Harbour located in Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. It played a major role in defending Halifax Harbour and is now a provincial park...

– Fort built in 1889 to defend Halifax Harbour. Designated: 1965 Location: Halifax 44.6, -63.516667
Fort Ste. Louis – Site of French fort, 1630
Fort Sainte Marie de Grace – First permanent French settlement in Acadia, 1632. Designated: 1924 Location: LaHave 44.288315, -64.351349
Fortress of Louisbourg
Fortress of Louisbourg
The Fortress of Louisbourg is a national historic site and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th century French fortress at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia...

– Reconstruction of 18th-century French fortress. Designated: 1920 Location: Louisbourg 45.892382, -59.986210
Fraser Octagon House
Fraser Octagon House
Fraser Octagon House is an historic octagon house located at 63 Church Street in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was built in 1857 and is one and a half storeys....

- Octagon house built in 1857 in Tatamagouche
Georges Island – Harbour fortification; contains Fort Charlotte. Designated: 1965 Location: Halifax 44.640833, -63.559722
Government House
Government House (Nova Scotia)
Government House of Nova Scotia is the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, as well as that in Halifax of the Canadian monarch...

– Excellent, early, Palladian style vice-regal residence
Attack at Grand Pre
Battle of Grand Pré
The Battle of Grand Pré, also known as the Battle of Minas, was a battle in King George's War that took place between British and French forces near present-day Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia in the winter of 1747 during the War of the Austrian Succession...

- 1747 battle
Grand-Pré
Grand-pre
Grand-Pré National Historic Site is a park set aside to commemorate the Grand-Pré area of Nova Scotia as a centre of Acadian settlement from 1682 to 1755, and the deportation of the Acadians which began in 1755 and continued to 1762...

– Commemorates Acadian settlement and expulsion. Designated: 1982 Location: Grand-Pré 45.109444,-64.310278
Grand-Pré Rural Historic District
Grand-pre
Grand-Pré National Historic Site is a park set aside to commemorate the Grand-Pré area of Nova Scotia as a centre of Acadian settlement from 1682 to 1755, and the deportation of the Acadians which began in 1755 and continued to 1762...

– Acadian / English planter settlement area with surviving land-use patterns
Granville Block - Early influential demonstration that heritage conservation is a viable approach to urban planning and redevelopment
Grassy Island Fort – Centre of English fishery in 18th century. Designated: 1962 Location: Grassy Island 45.337333, -60.973080
Halifax Armoury
Halifax Armoury
The Halifax Armoury is a prominent and historic structure in central Halifax Nova Scotia. The armoury was designed in 1895 by Chief Dominion Architect Thomas Fuller, and was opened the next year and work on the structure was completed in 1899. While the exterior is based on a medieval castle, it...

– Large, urban, Romanesque Revival drill hall
Drill hall
A drill hall is a place such as a building or a hangar where soldiers practice and perform military drill. In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, the term was also used for the whole headquarters building of a military reserve unit, which usually incorporated such a hall...

for the active militia, 1895–99
Halifax Citadel – Restored British masonry fort, 1828–56. Designated: 1935 Location: Halifax 44.647398, -63.580241
Halifax City Hall
Halifax City Hall
Halifax City Hall is the seat of municipal government in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality.Since municipal amalgamation took place on 1 April 1996, Halifax City Hall has hosted the regular meetings of the Halifax Regional Council, as well as various municipal offices.-History:The building...

– Civic symbol on Grand Parade, 1887; Second Empire style
Halifax Court House
Halifax Court House
The Halifax Court House is a historic building in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. Its main section was completed in 1863, with the east wing, built in 1930, being the newest portion. The Italian renaissance style building was designed by William Thomas, a Toronto architect who built prominent...

– Italianate court house, 1858
Halifax Dockyard – Oldest dockyard in North America still in use, 1758
Halifax Public Gardens
Halifax Public Gardens
The Halifax Public Gardens are Victorian era public gardens formally established in 1867, the year of Canadian Confederation. The gardens are located in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia on the Halifax Peninsula near the popular shopping district of Spring Garden Road...

– One of rare surviving Victorian gardens in Canada
Halifax Waterfront Buildings – Commercial grouping reflecting Halifax's 19th century development
Halifax WWII Coastal Defences – Safe port for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

convoy assembly; Atlantic Bulwark
Bulwark
Bulwark may refer to:*A bastion or fortifications in general*In naval terminology, an extension of a ship's sides above deck level*HMS Bulwark, any of several Royal Navy ships*USS Bulwark, any of several US Navy ships...
Henry House – Common 19th century urban type in local ironstone, 1834; residence of Father of Confederation, William A. Henry
William Alexander Henry
William Alexander Henry was a Canadian lawyer, politician, judge and one of the Fathers of Confederation....
HMCS Sackville – Only surviving Flower-class corvette; Battle of Atlantic, World War II
Hydrostone District
The Hydrostone
The Hydrostone is a neighbourhood in the North End of the Halifax Peninsula in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. It consists of ten short parallel streets and is bordered by Duffus Street to the north, Young Street to the south, Isleville Street to the west and Novalea Drive...

, North End, Halifax
North End, Halifax
The North End of Halifax is a neighbourhood located in the urban core of Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality, occupying the northern part of the Halifax Peninsula.-Geography:...

– Public housing in Garden Suburb style, 1920s
Jonathan McCully House – Italianate urban residence of politician and Father of Confederation, Jonathan McCully
Jonathan McCully
Jonathan McCully was a participant at the Confederation conferences at Charlottetown, Quebec City, and in London, and is thus considered one of the Fathers of Canadian Confederation. He did much to promote union through newspaper editorials. For his efforts, he received a Senate appointment...
Kejimkujik
Kejimkujik National Park
Kejimkujik National Park is part of the Canadian National Parks system, located in the province of Nova Scotia...

– Important Mi'kmaq cultural landscape, petroglyphs. Designated: 1992 Location: all of Kejimkujik National Park
Kejimkujik National Park
Kejimkujik National Park is part of the Canadian National Parks system, located in the province of Nova Scotia...

, except the Seaside Unit 44.379560, -65.306854
King's College
University of King's College
The University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. King's is a small liberal arts university offering mainly undergraduate programs....

– Site of Anglican college, 1789–1923
Knaut-Rhuland House – Example of British classicism applied to a residence by virtue of its precise, harmonious design and rich detail
Ladies' Seminary – Represents the earliest phase of Women's higher education; 1878
Little Dutch (Deutsch) Church, Halifax – Oldest known surviving church in Canada associated with the German-Canadian community, 1756–60
Liverpool Town Hall
Liverpool, Nova Scotia
Liverpool is a Canadian community and former town located along the Atlantic Ocean of the Province of Nova Scotia's South Shore. It is situated within the Region of Queens Municipality which is the local governmental unit that comprises all of Queens County, Nova Scotia...

– Dignified regional reflection of a national building type
Lunenburg Academy – Rare survivor from Nova Scotia's 19th century academy system; Second Empire style
Marconi National Historic Site, Glace Bay – Site of first wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...

station in Canada. Designated: 1939
Marconi Wireless Station – First regular public transatlantic wireless service
Melanson Settlement – Pre-expulsion Acadian
Acadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...

farm community, 1664–1755. Designated: 1986 Location: Lower Granville 44.71126, -65.61116
Nova Scotia Coal Fields (Sydney) – Surviving clusters of in situ resources associated with the fields and the coal industry
Nova Scotia Coal Fields (Stellarton) – Surviving clusters of in situ resources associated with the fields and the coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

industry
Old Barrington Meeting House – Rare 1765 meeting house
Old Burying Ground, Halifax – Unique concentration of gravestone art, from 1749
Old Town Lunenburg Historic District – Homogeneous architectural ensemble on British model town plan; UNESCO World Heritage Site
Pictou Academy, Pictou, Nova Scotia – Site of first Pictou Academy
Pictou Academy
Pictou Academy , founded in 1816 by the late Dr. Thomas McCulloch, is a secondary school in Pictou, Nova Scotia. Prior to the twentieth century, it was a liberal nonsectarian college, a grammar school, an academy and then a secondary school. Pictou Academy's current principal is James Ryan. The...

, 1818–1932
Pictou Railway Station (Intercolonial) – Eclectic Intercolonial railway station; 1904
Pier 21
Pier 21
Pier 21, a former ocean liner terminal, is Canada's National Museum of Immigration in Halifax, Nova Scotia.It operated as an ocean liner terminal and immigration shed from 1928 to 1971 and became an immigration museum in 1999. Pier 21 is Canada's last remaining ocean immigration shed...

– Highly specialized building type related to early 20th century Canadian immigration and post war immigration
Port-Royal
Habitation at Port-Royal
The Habitation at Port-Royal was the first successful French settlement of New France in North America, and is presently known as Port-Royal National Historic Site, a National Historic Site located on the northern side of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada...

– Reconstruction of 1605 French settlement
Poutrincourt's Mill – Site of 1607 flour mill
Prince of Wales Tower – Late-18th-century stone defence tower, 1796–99
Province House
Province House (Nova Scotia)
Province House is where the Nova Scotia Legislature, known officially as the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, has met every year since 1819. The building is Canada's oldest house of government...

– Oldest legislative seat in Canada and site of the country's first responsible government
Responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...

.
Royal Battery – Role in the 1745 and 1758 sieges of Louisbourg
Sainte-Anne / Port Dauphin
Fort Sainte Anne (Nova Scotia)
Fort Ste. Anne was a former French military fort located in the Canadian province of Cape Breton.It was situated in Englishtown, Victoria County on Cape Breton Island.The fort was built by Captain Charles Daniel after raiding Baleine...

– Precursor of Louisbourg
Sambro Island Lighthouse
Sambro Island Lighthouse
Sambro Island Lighthouse is a landfall lighthouse located at the entrance to Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia, on an island near the community of Sambro in the Halifax Regional Municipality...

- Oldest surviving lighthouse in Canada, 1758
Sinclair Inn / Farmer's Hotel – Inn circa 1781, early construction techniques
Sir Frederick Borden Residence – Shingle style residence of prominent Canadian politician, 1902
Springhill Coal Mining – One of Canada's most commercially important coalfields
St. George's Anglican Church / Round Church – Unique Palladian style round church, 1800–12
St. John's Anglican Church (Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) – Lunenburg
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg , is a Canadian port town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.Situated on the province's South Shore, Lunenburg is located on a peninsula at the western side of Mahone Bay. The town is approximately 90 kilometres southwest of the county boundary with the Halifax Regional Municipality.The...

Historically significant Carpenter's Gothic Revival church, 1754–63
St. Mary's Basilica, Halifax – Central role in the religious history of Nova Scotia, 1820–29
St. Paul's Anglican Church – Early Palladian church, serving official Halifax, 1750
St. Peter's
St. Peter's, Nova Scotia
St. Peter's is a small incorporated village located on Cape Breton Island in Richmond County, Nova Scotia, Canada....

– French trading post and fort, 1650–1758
St. Peters Canal
St. Peters Canal
The St. Peters Canal is a small shipping canal located in eastern Canada on Cape Breton Island. It crosses an isthmus in the village of St. Peter's, Nova Scotia which connects St. Peters Inlet of Bras d'Or Lake to the north with St...

– Operational canal; structures dating from 19th century
Sydney WWII Coastal Defences – Safe port for World War II convoy assembly; Atlantic Bulwark
Thinkers' Lodge - Site of scientific conference to discuss threat of nuclear weapons
Trinity Anglican Church – Safe port for World War II convoy assembly; Atlantic Bulwark
Truro Post Office – Early symbol of federal government
Wolfe's Landing – Successful landing led to capture of Louisbourg, 1758
York Redoubt
York Redoubt
York Redoubt is a National Historic Site of Canada situated on a bluff overlooking the entrance to Halifax Harbour at Ferguson's Cove, Nova Scotia, originally constructed in 1793. It was a key element in the defence of Halifax Harbour in the 19th and 20th centuries, and underwent many additions to...

– Major seaward defences of Halifax Harbour
Halifax Harbour
Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality.-Harbour description:The harbour is called Jipugtug by the Mi'kmaq first nation, anglisized as Chebucto...

from the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

National Historic Sites

See also