Lunenburg tour company shares tales from history

Atour guide ushers night visitors deep into the centuries-old cemetery on Gallows Hill, nestled near the shadowy image of the iconic Lunenburg Academy. The solemn gathering encircles the grave of young Sophia Mclaughlin. The darkness was barely held at bay by lanterns.

According to a South Shore legend, the gravely ill dressmaker’s apprentice scribbled her last words on a note with a trembling hand. “I know a secret, but I ain’t gonna tell,” she wrote to her accuser.

“Wrongly accused, they say she died of a broken heart,” the guide explained.

Then, they are informed the legend also holds that Sophia’s spirit still wanders the same cemetery where they now stand.

According to Lunenburg Walking Tours owner Liz Powers, the story of Sophia is just one of many tales of Lunenburg lore told to visitors.

Powers said for over 30 years, a team of expert guides has been delighting visitors from across Canada, the US and around the world with captivating tales of history, mystery and local lore, given from their unique insider’s perspective to their picturesque UNESCO World Heritage town.

Powers, a resident of Lunenburg for over 40 years, started with the company in 2019 as a guide for the Haunted Lunenburg Tour. In November 2020, she was offered the opportunity to purchase the business.

“I accepted even though we were in the height of the COVID pandemic. There was no way to tell at that time what the future of the business would bring,” Powers said.

Powers said her first season running the business as the new owner got off to a slow start because of COVID restrictions at the beginning of June 2021, when the walking tour season usually starts.

In July, however, things began to pick up when travellers and coach tours slowly started to come back.

Powers said she is cautiously optimistic that the 2022 season will be busy based on several pre-booked tours.

“It’s going to be a whirlwind summer and things are really heating up right now. People are wanting to travel again, and the bookings have been coming in since January,” Powers said. “So, we are anticipating a busy season.”

June Davidson of Lunenburg is in her second season as a tour guide. She is one of nine part-time and full season contracted guides gearing up for the new season from June 1 to the end of October. There are also private tours as early as May and as late as November.

Davidson moved to Lunenburg

in 2017 after a career in communications, marketing and journalism. She began her career in the 1980s at CKBW 108 in Bridgewater.

“So that is a lot engaging with people at different levels and a lot of storytelling, so it was a natural fit for me,” Davidson said.

“I wanted to keep engaging with people in some way. This was a really nice way to be involved with people and be storytelling.”

“This is actually the best non-job job I have ever had. It is so fun,” Davidson said.

For Davidson and the other tour guides, Lunenburg certainly has a treasure trove of stories to tell.

“You have this community that is representative of one of the oldest planned British Colonial settlements, not just in Nova Scotia, not just in Canada, but in North America,” Davidson said. “So, there are these unique pieces of history that are here.”

Davidson said the connection of the Bluenose to Lunenburg is one of those unique pieces of history.

“You can’t replicate the Bluenose story elsewhere.

And the Bluenose plays such an iconic part in our Canadian culture,” Davidson said.

Lunenburg Walking Tours offers visitors a range of tour options. The mainstay is the daytime Essential Lunenburg Tour focused on the architecture and folklore of Old Town Lunenburg.

The Haunted Lunenburg Ghost Walk at night brings the secrets of Lunenburg’s chilling past with stories of murder, hauntings, hangings and ghost sightings.

“There is definitely a fascination when it comes to that type of thing,” Powers said.

Haunted Lunenburg Family Night, a new offering this season, is a family-friendly nighttime tour.

“Our regular haunted Lunenburg Tour might be a bit much for the wee ones, so this is a new offering for families with younger children,” Powers said. “It starts an hour earlier than the regular Haunted Tour and is a gentler version with a focus on pirates, privateers, witches and ghosts.”

The Legends of the Bluenose Tour focuses on why the legendary Bluenose was crowned Queen of the North Atlantic, while the Lunenburg Distilled: A Spirit of Adventure Tour delves into Lunenburg’s rum-running history while exploring the waterfront on foot and by boat.

Rachel Bailey is the president of the Lunenburg Academy Foundation and a former mayor of Lunenburg.

Bailey said travellers don’t just want to visit Lunenburg. They want to experience it.

“Lunenburg has a colorful history and to have it told in storytelling mode is certainly appealing to people who come here or want to come here,” Bailey said.

“There is a lot going on in this small place. And its jam-packed into four square kilometers. It packs a powerful punch for a small place,” Bailey said.

Bailey believes the homegrown tour guides bring a unique perspective to that history.

“There are a lot of people that come into the community and there are tour guides that come with buses. But having people that actually live here and know the community more intimately makes a tour with Lunenburg Walking Tours a very special adventure and opportunity for people,” Bailey said.

“We are gearing up to host folks from all over the world again, as we’ve done for the last 30 years,” Powers said.

“Although much has changed in the world over the past two years due to the pandemic, the stories and history of Lunenburg have not changed,” Powers said. “The story of this area has remained the same as it’s been over the last 13,000 years.”