Avon River Heritage Society

Our Vision and Values

Our vision is for a sustainable and just community built from understanding cultural and historical interactions among people, river and land and working through partnerships and collaboration in our community.

Our Values:

Diversity and inclusivity; We believe the ARHS must represent and engage with the diversity of people and groups represented in the history of our community.
Innovation and improvement; We value the ability to respond to new opportunities that will advance the interests of our community. We embrace challenging assumptions and considering new approaches. We seek to provide progressive and inspiring resources and services for our community.
Community Collaboration; Our work is improved by meaningful collaboration and partnerships. We value the pursuit of new relationships and new models of collaboration.

Our Mission

Our mission is to engage and inspire our community and beyond through preserving, sharing, and celebrating Avon River area stories, heritage, arts, culture, ecology, and interrelationships among all peoples of this area and their environment.

Our Mandate

Working in partnership with community, supporters, and other museums the mandate of the ARHS is to:

preserve and promote the history of people of the Avon River area (Mi’kmaq, Acadian, New England Planter, African Nova Scotian, etc.)
preserve and promote the history of wooden boat and ship-building in the area
sustain a vital gathering place for community residents and visitors to explore history and take part in art and cultural activities
make known the links between local ecology and cultural heritage
host demonstrations by artisans who work in historical and contemporary trades, crafts, and art forms
provide a centre of research

We acknowledge that we are in “Pesegitk”, named by the Mi’kmaq people, to highlight its uniqueness as the place where the river “flows split-wise”. We are grateful to the stewards of this land who came before us to create this village and heritage centre we all benefit from being a part of.

Board of Directors 2025-2026

Jason Burcham, President
Kim Lake, Past President
Dawn Allen, Vice President & Co-Curator
Michelle Markle, Secretary
Ken Sheward, Treasurer
Ken Greer, Full Circle Festival representative
Tricia Sheehy, Director
Sean Coutinho, Director
Rose Greer, Director

Facility & Events Manager

Tacha Reed

Maintenance Manager

Dave Markle

All are warmly welcome to join us at the Avon Spirit Shipyard on June 3rd at 7pm for the Annual General Meeting of the Avon River Heritage Society.
This gathering is more than a meeting—it’s a chance to come together as a community, share stories, and celebrate the work happening at the Avon River Heritage & Culture Centre and within the Shipyard. Whether you’ve been involved for years or are just curious about what we do, we invite you to be part of the conversation as we reflect on the past year and look ahead to what we can build together.

At the heart of our work is a growing network of volunteers, supporters, and community members who help bring our programs and spaces to life. We are always looking to welcome new people into this circle—whether you have a little time to give or specific skills to share.

There are many ways to get involved, including:

Programming and events
Communications and marketing
Interpretation and research
Fundraising and donations
Maintenance and site support
Volunteer coordination

If you’re interested in contributing, we’d love to hear from you. You can explore areas of interest through our volunteer survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFQa0PaMnJWXsxmfg0PP9VQdUblxqO9Jxx55dShPUBTbbgtQ/viewform

To learn more about our team and board opportunities, visit:
http://www.avonriverheritage.com/volunteer-teams.html
Come connect, get inspired, and help shape the future of this shared space—we hope to see you there.