Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, historic port town in Canada

brian eiland · Aug 9, 2017

I have been fortunate to be invited to a friend's house in this port town of Lunenburg for a month this summer (escape the Florida summer heat). Perhaps some do not know of this delightful little area?

This UNESCO World Heritage Site – with its narrow streets and unique architecture – is also the home port of Nova Scotia’s sailing ambassador, the Bluenose II. The graceful ship is a replica of the original fishing boat that found fame as a racing schooner.

Wander Old Town Lunenburg’s distinctive waterfront with its colourful buildings and listen for salty tales of seafaring and rum-running. Discover what life is like on the open ocean when you visit the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic on the Lunenburg waterfront.

Old Town Lunenburg is one of only two urban communities in North America designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Seventy percent of the original colonial buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries continue to greet visitors with their colourful façades.

In Lunenburg, the past mingles with the present, and you can still see tall ships moored in the harbour and hear a blacksmith’s hammer in a waterfront warehouse

http://www.novascotia.com/explore/top-25/lunenburg

brian eiland · Aug 9, 2017

another video about living here

I'll have some photos to add to this once I get some good angles and sun heights

Oh, and this coming weekend will be a visit by some of the 'tall ships' and a folk music festival

brian eiland · Aug 9, 2017

another good video

Kevin · Aug 9, 2017

I end up in Nova Scotia at least once literally every year... been to Lunenburg many times. I've got pics of the Bluenose II during it's rebuild as well. The shed was just a few blocks north of where she's berthed now. Also the Spirit of Canada IMOCA 60 was berthed there for a few years too.

brian eiland · Aug 9, 2017

Sterling Hayden was involved with these fishing schooners that competed fiercely between Lunenburg and Gloucester for bragging rights on the Grand Banks. One of his books 'Wanderer' was an influence on my early entry into sailing. I mentioned it over on this subject thread,...

http://www.yachtforums.com/threads/motor-sailers-by-philip-rhodes-john-alden.6710/

As if that wasn’t enough, in 1963 the actor Sterling Hayden published his book Wanderer;
“They never taught wandering in any school I attended. They never taught the art of sailing a vessel, either. Or that of writing a book. It's all so mysterious and – yes – enchanting. And that is what I suppose this book is all about.”

Since its first publication in 1963, controversy has surrounded Wanderer, the autobiography of Sterling Hayden. Just as he approached the peak of his career as a movie star, Hayden suddenly abandoned Hollywood, walked out on a shattered marriage, defied the courts, and set sail with his four children aboard the schooner WANDERER. A broke outlaw, he escaped to the South Seas.

Wanderer is the inspirational story of a complex and contradictory man; a rebel and a seeker, undefeated by failure to find himself in love, adventure, drink, or escape.
http://www.sheridanhouse.com/catalog/travel/wanderer.html

So this was the era I began to get interested in boats. You can see the influences I was under; get on a sailing vessel and take off somewhere. Motor Sailers seemed to offer the best of all worlds for this adventure. And those designs by Rhodes & Alden were my favorites.
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https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/did-you-know-sterling-hayden/

That Sterling Hayden (1916-1986) was a famous actor from the 1940’s-1970’s, who stayed on Rocky Neck for a time and liked to eat at Sailor Stan’s, where he sat in the middle booth? Rocky Neck artist, L.A. Dahlmer, recalls sitting across from Hayden at the popular Rocky Neck breakfast spot. Hayden returned to Gloucester in 1983 for the release of Joseph Garland’s book Down to the Sea: The Fishing Schooners of Gloucester, the introduction of which he had written.

I just love this quote from Sterling Hayden’s book: Wanderer:

“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea… cruising it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

‘I’ve always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can’t afford it.’ What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need – really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in – and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all – in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, and preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?”

He dropped out of school at 16 to go to sea and ended up in Gloucester, where he worked as a Grand Banks fisherman and learned the art of sailing. He was mate on Irving Johnson’s Yankee on its noted circumnavigation in 1937. He was navigator on the Essex-built schooner Gertrude L. Thebaud under Captain Ben Pine in the 1938 Fisherman’s Cup races v. the Canadian schooner Bluenose. Partly due to the intense media coverage of those races, he was discovered by the press: his photo in the Boston Post captioned “Thebaud Sailor Like Movie Idol” led to modeling opportunities in New York and a call from Paramount Pictures. After captaining a voyage to Tahiti, he signed with Paramount in 1941. The blonde, 6-foot, 5-inch actor thrilled audiences in some 60 films. Dubbed the “Beautiful Blond Viking God” by Paramount Pictures, he is best known for his roles as General Jack D. Ripper in “Dr. Strangelove” (1964), for which he was nominated by BAFTA as “Best Foreign Actor”. Other noted roles were a corrupt cop in “The Godfather” (1972), Roger Wade in “The Long Goodbye” (1973), Leo Dalco in Bertolucci’s “Novecento” (1976), and a comedic turn as the CEO in “Nine to Five” (1980). He often expressed his dislike for acting, stating that he only acted to pay for his sailing. Utilizing his love for the sea and knowledge of sailing, he also authored the best-selling 1976 work “Voyage: A Novel of 1896”. He was married three times with six children, and died of prostate cancer. Hayden was a genuine adventurer and man of action, not dissimilar from many of his movie parts.

E.J. Lefavour
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brunick · Aug 9, 2017

I've recently watched a series of short movies on youtube by the owner of fleming yachts. he've been there with a fleming 65.
(Starts around 2 minutes into the video)

as i'm german, my first thought was, this town was probably founded or named by some german immigrant, as there is a town some 50km east of hamburg named "Lüneburg".

olderboater · Aug 9, 2017

brunick said: ↑

as i'm german, my first thought was, this town was probably founded or named by some german immigrant, as there is a town some 50km east of hamburg named "Lüneburg".
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Well, your first thought would be wrong.

brunick · Aug 9, 2017

olderboater said: ↑

Well, your first thought would be wrong.
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yeah, i've figured that, was just reading the article on wikipedia, seems like it may have been named after a king of great britain, but i a much wider way it has something to do with the city

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunenburg said:

The town was named in honour of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, George August of Hanover, who was also the duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg.
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bernd1972 · Aug 9, 2017

Hello Jannick, you might be interested that Lunenburg has something in common with our hometown Flensburg as it´s been the rum capital of the Nova Scotia region just like Flensburg was here over many decades... There´s a cool t-shirt from the Lunenburg Tourist Shops which says : Lunenburg - beautiful small drinking town with a fishing problem.

...interesting to find out there´s another member from Flensburg on this place.

brian eiland · Aug 10, 2017

There are lots of German immigrants living in this Nova Scotia area as I understand it,....and their are at least 2 sauerkraut manufacturers near Lunenburg

brunick · Aug 10, 2017

@bernd1972: jep, been here quite a long time, last years mostly reading, not writing (is that your ship on the picture? i've seen that quite a lot of times in the harbour)
brian: it is quite a mystery to my, why someone likes sauerkraut so much

i think i should make a roadtrip, not starting in boston as i first supposed, but somewhere in nova scoatia then

bernd1972 · Aug 10, 2017

@brunick: Yes that´s me...

brian eiland · Aug 10, 2017

brian: it is quite a mystery to my, why someone likes sauerkraut so much
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To tell the truth I'm not a big fan of sauerkraut either, except with port chops/pork roast sometimes.
I like the German blue/red cabbage better.

brian eiland · Aug 19, 2017

One of the reasons I posted this subject thread is that Luenburg was due a visit by some 'tall ships'. They came last weekend.
https://tallshipsevents.com/event/rdv2017-lunenburg/
https://www.lighthousenow.ca/article.php?title=Tall_Ships_Regatta_coming_to_Lunenburg_in_2017
http://www.rdv2017.com/en/participating-cities/
It was a relatively small showing in Lunenburg, but it was colorful along the waterfront.

brian eiland · Aug 19, 2017

a few more

brian eiland · Aug 19, 2017

the infamous Bluenose, and a few more 'not so tall ships'

brian eiland · Aug 19, 2017

a few more

PacBlue · Aug 19, 2017

Great stuff, I'll be in Halifax, NS beginning of September, love the area and St. John, NL as well.

brian eiland · Sep 5, 2017

Thought I would add a few more pics of the harbor area taken from the golf course from across the way. Nice harbor

dennismc · Sep 5, 2017

Thanks Brian, great pics of a wonderful part of Canada.

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Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, historic port town in Canada

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