Description, purpose:

To honor Nicolas Denys, Cape Breton Island's first permanent settler, and to collect and preserve the history and artifacts of the St. Peter's area.

Painting by Lewis Parker
depicting Nicolas Denys in St. Peter's in the 1660s.
Photo: courtesy of Warren Gordon, Sydney.

Highlights of the Museum:

Nicolas Denys was a maker of history in Acadia for over half a century: his remarkable qualities make him one of the builders of this new land, Cape Breton, in its beginnings.

Above, from the Museum's collection: reproductions of costumes which Nicolas Denys and his wife would have worn in the 17th century.

Nicolas Denys (Tours, France 1598 or 1603 - Paris, 1688) has been associated with St. Peter's history.
This is where, in 1650, he built a trading post and tried to develop the French colony. For years he was engaged in fisheries here, manufactured lumber, and cultivated land.
He constructed a road across the isthmus between the Atlantic and the Bras d'Or Lake, and hauled his boats over that portage. He traded with the Mi'kmaq First Nation.

Below:
Nicolas Denys lived in St. Peters's, but he also was active in other areas throughout present Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Other interesting facts:

St. Peter's (1650) celebrated its 350th anniversary in 2000.

Ruth Morrison and Alice Curry drew up the plans for the French-styled building housing the Museum (1967).

Special activities or events:

Open House during the 1st week of August (during Nicolas Denys Days in St. Peter's, a yearly event since 2000); along with auctions, flea markets, a parade, ceilidhs, chowder lunches, etc.

Workshops / Educational Programs:

School tours.

Demonstrations by people in costumes: butter churning, wheel spinning, sewing on an old machine, etc.

Contact information:

Parking area, washrooms, picnic area.
Giftshops, restaurants nearby.

The collections:

• Artifacts of everyday life, from the 19th century to the present; photographs, etc.
• History of St. Peter's Canal, opened in 1869 - photographs of the construction.
• History of the Kavanaugh Family.
• Reproduction of a painting by Lewis Parker depicting NIcolas Denys and the original 1650 French trading post (original at the Beaton Institute, Sydney).

The Museum contains some exceptional pieces, such as a folding parlour bed.

Other historical sites in the vicinity:

In the 18th century Saint-Pierre was eventually called Port-Toulouse (1713) and it became a satellite of the Fortress of Louisbourg. The road between the trading post and the Fortress (the 'French Road'), which follows the coastline, is sometimes referred to as "the road not taken".

Links to other places of interest in the area: