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HERITAGE
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Over the past sixteen years, the Heritage Department of Victoria County has
accomplished a great deal of important work with regard to the compiling of an
inventory of heritage buildings in the County. In 1988, Victoria County became
active in a project to carry out an inventory, and work completed during the
years has resulted in hundreds of residences, churches, and public buildings
being added to this inventory. Initially, funding was available through the Nova
Scotia Heritage Unit, however, for the past six years, the project has been
funded entirely by Victoria County.
The majority of buildings south of Cape Smokey dating from 1914 and earlier have
been recorded in the inventory. These heritage site forms are stored in the
Archives in the Court House in Baddeck. An example of a typical site form is
shown here. It is the "Old Post Office" which was built in 1885 and is located
on Chebucto Street in the Village of Baddeck. Please note that this site form is
saved in pdf format - you will require Acrobat Reader to open the file.
In 2004, the inventory of buildings in the north of
Cape Smokey areas will be undertaken. The inventory completed up to June, 2003
has been digitized, and will soon be available for viewing on the County's
website.
ARCHIVES
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year 2001 marked the 150th anniversary of Victoria County. Prior to 1851, what
comprises our county today was part of Cape Breton County. By a special act in
the legislature, with the final reading and subsequent passing the bill in April
of 1851, Victoria County was created.
In order to mark this significant milestone in the
County's history, the Municipal Council decided to establish an archives so that
all the surviving Municipal records would be preserved for the future. Work
commenced in the summer of 2001 with the collecting, identifying, cleaning, and
re-housing of the minute books and other related materials. In early January of
2002, a room was made available in the Court House, and an archives was
established. The creation of the archives meant that there was access to the
materials by the public. The archives is open five days days per week - Monday
to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
( closed during the lunch hour from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m.)
The Heritage and Archives Department is under the
direction of Tom C. Wilson, Director of Recreation and Tourism for Victoria
County. The Archives is staffed by Joan MacInnes who also carries out the built
heritage inventory work. The Municipal Council has a Heritage Advisory Committee
which is chaired by councillor, John Graham MacInnes.
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