Operated by:

Harbour Authority of Little River, Victoria County

Areas of interest:

Partial view of the harbour at Little River.

From there, one can see the Atlantic coastline
with the Bird Islands and Cape Smokey.

Description, purpose:

To promote the fisheries and to give visitors a taste of a community that relies heavily on the fishery for survival.

Snow crab (mid-May to mid-July) and lobster (late July) are now the main fisheries in the area.

The Building and its location:

Located on a working wharf, the building that now houses the museum was built in 1963 by Paurel's (New Brunswick) for storage, to filet fish and to prepare gear. The Harbour Authority purchased it and started a museum.

Some 25 people fish for crab and lobster out of Little River during the summer months. The idea for the museum came from their discussions, in which it was felt that early Cape Breton economy was based on more than steel and coal, and remains so today, for a number of smaller, less-centralized communities.
(from an article in Shunpiking, April/May 2000, by Paul MacDougall)

'Little Murdock's boat':

A dory lining one wall ot the museum.

This boat was used for lobster fishing, in 'a time of big men and small boats'.

A dory's outfit:

A dory's outfit (according to John Clayton, 1950):
"mast, boom, and sail; two barrels of fresh water and half-gallon jugs; trawl roller; two buoys with pole and flag target; two 25-pound trawl anchors; two bailing scoops; two pairs of nippers for handling ground line; three kid boards to pen off the fish; tin foghorn; boat paintter; three twarts (seats) three sets of wooden tholepins for oarlocks (wood won't sink when lost overboard); one steering pin for sailing; four trawl-heaving sticks; dory knife; grappling iron and window weights to hold it down; one hook set; kerosene torch for night work; four ash oars; fish fork."

"The cost of a locally-made dory, 15 ft on the bottom, was about $125, up to $140 (but still only $25 in Shelburne, Nova Scotia), in 1950 when John Clayton made this inventory.
A complete outfit then, including dory, cost $500; each tub was another $37.50, plus 5 dollars a thousand for hooks. A dory, under sentence of such hard labour, was only good for about 3 years."
(Joseph E. Garland, with Captain Jim Sharp)

General information:

Museum open from May to September

Daily (closed Mondays): 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Holiday weekends: open Mon., closed Tues.

Admission: $2.00 - free for children

Parking lot (50 spaces); picnic tables

For sale at the museum:

Hard ice-cream, choice of flavours.
Served at the entrance of the former ice-room in the old building that now is the museum.

Below (from the museum's collection): the kind of seashells and other treasures (starfish, sea urchins, whale teeth, lobster claws, etc.) that can be found on the beachesat Little River Harbour

Some of the things to do in Little River Harbour around the museum area:

swimming and beachcombing (two beaches);
walking trails;
touring the area with a guide (inquire at the museum);
at the wharf and nearby buildings, watching the local fishermen working; fresh lobster and crab catches being unloaded at the wharf.

A composition on a shed wall, facing the museum: tuna fins and head

Related Web sites:

The Marine Institute, on Snow Crab

Snow Crab: a Successful Fishery

Inshore/offshore fisheries development (fishing methods, species, etc.)

Surface area:

1120 sq. ft.

The collections / exhibits:

This museum is entirely a community initiative, with artifacts all gathered up and donated by the locals. Many artifacts were donated or loaned by Mr. Jean-Luc Chassé, who used to own a museum in nearby Englishtown.

All artifacts are hand-catalogued.

The museum features many photographs, maps and educative posters.

In this
single-room
museum,
visitors
will see:

all the trappings of the fisheries: ropes, lanterns, oil cans, wheels of boats, hooks, traps, winches and pulleys, buffers, net buoys, eel spears, salmon spears, etc.

An interesting exhibit (picture above, left): an old 3-foot high, cone-shaped, wicker eel trap. It consists of two chambers: the top one contains the bait, and the bottom one lets the eels in. Similar in principle to a lobster trap, once the eels make it to the bait chamber they cannot get out.

A partial view of a grouping of exhibits

In red: a winch

A picture of Lloyd MacInnes with the 1,031-pound tuna he caught in October 1987, the only one ever caught out of Little River.




Below, an original tuna fishing chair and reel.

Below, an old rectangular crab trap

In the museum there are also sections with items from everyday life 'in the old days':

camera, eye glasses, cards;
butter churn, butter crock, milk separator,
ice-cream maker, molasses jug;
candle maker, iron, hand wringer, scrub board;
potato planter, potato sprayer, hay fork,
sythe, sheep shears,
clamp for leather repair;
blow torch, portable forge, cross-cut saw;
carriage lamp, barn lantern, brakeman lantern,
Aladdin lamp, etc.

'Little Cod' - wood burning boat stoves

Staff:

Cheryl MacDonald
and volunteer community members

Harbour Authority of Little River-Victoria Co.:
Lloyd M. MacInnis, Chairman
Nancy Smith, Secretary

Contact information:

Little River Harbour Fisheries & Heritage Museum

Nancy Smith, Secretary - Harbour Authority of Little River, Victoria County

Other museums / heritage sites
in the vicinity:

Giant MacAskill Museum, Englishtown
(902) 929-2106

Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts

For information about the history of the area, accommodations, attractions, etc.:

Cape Breton Showcase Directory

St. Ann's Harbour Area Community Portal

Destination Nova Scotia: The Cabot Trail

Nova Scotia Online: Victoria County - accommodations