Home / Accueil

Birchtown School

23 Birchtown Road, Birchtown, Nova Scotia, B0T, Canada

Formally Recognized: 2000/06/20

Side and front elevations, Birchtown School, Birtchtown, 2004.; Heritage Division, NS Dept. of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, 2004.
Side and Front Elevations
Side elevation, Birchtown School, Birchtown, 2004.; Heritage Division, NS Dept. of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, 2004.
Side Elevation
Front elevation, Britchtown School, Birchtown, 2004; Heritage Division, NS Dept. of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, 2004.
Front Elevation

Other Name(s)

n/a

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1830/01/01 to 1860/12/31

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2005/07/14

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Birchtown School is a small, wood building located on a small loop road near the Birchtown waterfront. Built between 1830 and 1860, it now houses a museum dedicated to the history of Black Loyalists in the Birchtown, NS area. The provincial designation applies to the building and land.

Heritage Value

The Birchtown School is valued for its association with the story of education in the eighteenth century African-Nova Scotian community of Birchtown. It is also valued as a local landmark and museum.

A British tactic to weaken American resources during the American Revolution was to offer freedom and land to any Black slave who managed to escape their American slave owners and fight for the British. Following the end of hostilities approximately 50,000 ‘loyal’ Blacks needed to be resettled. Over three thousand came to Nova Scotia; approximately fifteen hundred settled at Birchtown in 1783. At this time Birchtown was the largest community of Free Blacks outside of Africa. In 1791 the British government formed the Sierra Leone Company and offered Freed Blacks more land that they were given in the British colonies and the promise of self-government in the West African country of Sierra Leone. Nearly half of the Black Loyalists accepted this offered and removed to Sierra Leone. Some Black Loyalists remained in Birchtown, which eventually became a racially mixed community. Formal education began in Birchtown in 1785 by an English philanthropic society.

It is unknown exactly when the Birchtown School was constructed. Its architecture is consistent with mid-nineteenth century architecture and is believed to have been built between 1830 and 1860. During that period a teacher named Roswell Brown was known to have taught Black children in the area at a Church of England school and Brown owned the land on which the school was built.

The building is a Greek Revival, one-and-one-half storey wood frame building with a front gable roof and a one storey wing projecting from the front elevation. It is one of two public buildings remaining from nineteenth century Birchtown and is now open as a museum operated by the Black Loyalist Heritage Society.

Source: Provincial Heritage Property File No. 244.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-Defining elements of the Birchtown School include:

- all elements related to its simple Greek Revival style including simple label mouldings around widows and doors, and simple corner boards and eave trim;
- wood cladding;
- gable end facing the road;
- wing on front elevation containing vestibules and two exterior doors;
- large sash window in gable;
- interior wainscoting to window sill.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Nova Scotia

Recognition Authority

Province of Nova Scotia

Recognition Statute

Heritage Property Act

Recognition Type

Provincially Registered Property

Recognition Date

2000/06/20

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Building Social and Community Life
Education and Social Well-Being

Function - Category and Type

Current

Leisure
Museum

Historic

Education
One-Room School

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

Provincial Heritage Property Files, Heritage Division, 1747 Summer Street, Halifax, B4H 3A6.

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

00PNS0244

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

SEARCH THE CANADIAN REGISTER

Advanced SearchAdvanced Search
Find Nearby PlacesFIND NEARBY PLACES PrintPRINT
Nearby Places