Memory Lane 1940s Heritage Village
Lake Charlotte, Nova Scotia

*Disclosure: Our family received a free pass to visit the museum. It just gave us a great excuse to explore somewhere new and tell you all about it!*

This is probably one of our most favourite places we visited this summer!

In the preceding week, I had two people write to me and tell me all about Memory Lane Heritage Village, telling me we needed to check it out. I took this as a sign and planned a trip to check it out.

Memory Lane Heritage Village is an award winning living history museum depicting coastal rural life in Nova Scotia during the 1940s, including life during and after the Second World War.

“This is so cool already!”

Those were Daniel’s (10) first words as he walked through the main doors of the museum and looked around at the old-fashioned shop. It was going to be a great day.

When we arrived, the friendly staff gave us an overview of the village and pointed us on our way.
There are 18 buildings that can be explored at Memory Lane. They are all relatively close together, making it accessible and easy to navigate.

Map

Cookhouse

We started our tour at the cookhouse for lunch.

Cookhouse Chow is served buffet style in the 85 seat replica of a 1940s cookhouse between 11:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. every day.

All food is prepared in the cookhouse and features baked beans, fresh soups from scratch, homemade brown bread, gingerbread, cookies and coffee, tea, or lemonade.

Cookhouse Chow (without admission) is $12.00 per person. (Child’s Meal is $6.00).

The food was all homemade and fresh and so delicious. The kids loved the real lemonade, and you can’t beat the gingerbread!

From there, we toured around the various buildings from boat shops to garages, and a gold mine!

The tour was self-guided and we followed the brochure which told us all the things we could do and try at each of the locations.

The best part was that there were no signs that said DO NOT TOUCH!

You could walk in and touch everything! There were tools available for you to try, as well! There was complete freedom for exploration.

Nervous parents or parents with younger children, just make sure you closely supervise what your children are doing.

The kids could use 1940s tools in the boat shop.

They used a sledge hammer to smash rocks.

They were allowed to pick a rock to take from the mining pile!

They could play the organ in the church.

They could pick up ice with tongs in the ice house!

They could cuddle kittens and pet the sheep.

They were in heaven! They are so used to standing behind a rope in a museum and not being allowed to touch anything, that this was such a treat!

For me, it really was a trip down memory lane. Walking into the garage and woodworking room, I was instantly transported back to my grandfather’s basement.

Walking into the farm house, I could have sworn I was in my great-aunt’s house with the pump organ and doileys on the furniture. I only wish my parents had gone with us!

Planning your Trip

We stayed at the museum for about 2.5 hours, and this included lunch.
We had the dog with us. Although they are not allowed inside the gate (because of the farm animals), there was a great shady spot where we could tie her up safely.

Daniel loved this museum so much, he made another YouTube video.

Hours and Admission

Open Daily, June 15 – Sept. 15,
11 AM – 4 PM (or by appointment)
Off-season, by appointment.
A family pass is $20.

Other admission prices are here.

Location

5435 Clam Harbour Road
Lake Charlotte,Eastern Shore
Nova Scotia, Canada, B0J 1Y0

It took us about 2 hours to drive there from home, so you might want to make a full day of exploring the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.
Here are a few other ideas of things to check out: