Shelburne

Around ten thousand Loyalists arrived here in 1783 after the American Revolution, briefly making Shelburne one of the largest settlements in North America; within a decade most had left as the promised support failed. Among them were about three thousand Black Loyalists who had been promised freedom and land for supporting the Crown, and the nearby settlement of Birchtown became the largest free Black community outside Africa at the time; the land grants were smaller and slower, and in 1792 around twelve hundred left for Sierra Leone. The Black Loyalist Heritage Centre at Birchtown tells that history. The waterfront keeps eighteenth-century buildings and a working cooperage.

What you actually see

• The Black Loyalist Heritage Centre - the Birchtown settlement and its betrayal.
• The waterfront buildings - eighteenth-century structures on the harbour.
• The working cooperage - one of the few operating barrel shops in Canada.
• The Loyalist story - a town of ten thousand that emptied within a decade.

When to go

June to September for the museums and full opening; the heritage centre runs a longer season than most local sites. Winter is quiet with closures.

Honest expectations

Birchtown is a separate drive from Shelburne. Museums close or reduce sharply outside summer. The town is small and quiet.

Nearby

Yarmouth lies west; Lunenburg is east.