The story of Dartmouth’s history started with information about the Mi’kmaq and displays you can see on the back wall telling about their clothes, hunting and how they lived. The clock is from the old Post Office.

The Mi’kmaq shirt was made of animal skin and decorated. Dartmouth side of the harbour had lots of trees and beaches for getting shellfish. On the right is the Alderney ship that brought settlers from England to Dartmouth in 1750.

Windmill Road is named for the old windmill that used to be there.

We saw a model of the old grain mill that had a waterwheel. The model really worked and you could see inside the mill.

When the waterwheel turned it moved a stone around to grind the grain.

The Shubenacadie Canal was built between 1826 to 1831 and from 1854 to 1861 when it opened. But it never did much business as trains were running then and it closed in 1870.

The display about the ferry was really interesting and we got to try steering the wheel and moving the lever for the speed.

This is inside the wheelhouse for steering the ferry which started crossing the harbour between Halifax and Dartmouth in 1852

These old pictures showed the ferry “Scotian” and a relative of a student in our class is in the picture in the middle on the right.

We learned how they cut blocks of ice from the lakes and stored them on sawdust to keep them from melting so they could put the ice in ice boxes in homes to keep food cold. The Starr skate factory was famous for making skates. They invented a skate like the ones we wear now with a blade attached to the boot.

The Starr company made hockey skates in 1866 that cost 75 cents a pair. Their old building has been torn down now.

Baking, building ships, and fishing were all important jobs in Dartmouth’s history.

The Halifax explosion on December 6, 1917 caused a lot of damage in Dartmouth too.

We saw a painting that showed the massive explosion when the Mont Blanc ammunition ship blew up after it had collided with the Imo supply ship.

The museum had artifacts from life in the past – tools, typewriters, dishes

We saw pens and ink wells and slates they used in school.

There were pictures of teachers in their long dresses.

Students had clothes that were different too.

We saw a big photo of Dartmouth in the early 1900’s.

We had learned a lot about our Dartmouth community in the past thanks to the volunteers who guided our groups. A few days later the museum closed to move to another location. Evergreen House, 26 Newcastle Street, Dartmouth NS B2Y 3M5