AVON RIVER HERITAGE CENTRE
  • About
    • Avon River Heritage Society
    • Artifacts & Archives
    • The Avon River
    • Meet the People in our Neighbourhood >
      • Dawn Allen, August 21st, 2020
      • Sara Beanlands, July 22nd, 2021
      • Carolyn Connors, July 30th, 2020
      • Carolyn Connors, July 21st, 2021
      • Louis Coutinho, August 13th, 2020
      • Sean Coutinho, January 13th, 2021
      • Eva Evans, July 24th, 2020
      • Elizabeth Ferguson, July 27th, 2020
      • Nicholas Hughes, August 6th, 2020
      • Olwynn Hughes, August 11th, 2020
      • Kim Lake, January 18th & 21st, 2021
      • Trudy Lake, March 13th, 2022
      • Raymond Parker, August 12th, 2020
      • Raymond Parker, July 7th, 2021
      • Zacchary Paul, August 21st, 2021
      • Tacha Reed, August 27th, 2020
      • Allen Shaw, January 18th, 2021
      • Carolyn vanGurp, July 16th, 2020
      • Abraham Zebian, August 24th, 2020
    • Avondale Walking Tour
    • Fundraising
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  • History
    • Natural History >
      • Highest Tides in the World
      • Tidal Bore
      • Avon Peninsula Ecology
      • Birds of the Avon
      • Marine and Freshwater Species of the Avon
      • Karst Environment
      • Gypsum
      • Avon Peninsula Watershed Preservation Society >
        • Avon Peninsula Watershed Preservation Society, Interview with President, Raymond Parker
        • Avon-Shore Seed Library
    • Mi'kmaq >
      • Mi'kmaq Birch Bark Canoes
      • Mi'kmaq of the Avon River >
        • Treaty Truckhouse 2 & Zacchary Paul
    • The Coming of the Europeans
    • The North American Colonies
    • Acadians >
      • Pisiquit
      • Acadians of the Avon River >
        • Babin
        • Breau
        • Cheverie
        • Forest
        • Landry
        • LeBlanc
        • Rivest
        • Thibodeau
        • Trahan
        • Vincent
        • Other Families
      • Village Thibodeau (Poplar Grove)
      • Acadian Families After Expulsion >
        • Broussard
        • Brun
        • Comeau
        • Deveau
        • Girouard
        • Johnson
        • Leger
        • Pellerin
        • Poitier
        • Robicheau
        • Suret
    • New England Planters >
      • New England Planters in Avondale >
        • Genealogy
        • Samuel Bentley
        • Benjamin Borden
        • John Chambers
        • James and John Harvie
        • Caleb Lake
        • James and Lydia Mosher
        • Nathaniel Reynolds
        • Benjamin Sanford
        • James Smith
        • Henry Tucker
        • James Weedon
    • Loyalists
    • African Nova Scotians
    • Local Home Histories >
      • 28 Chip Hill Road
      • 51 Avondale Road
      • 38 Avondale Road: The Clifford Mosher House
      • 58 Avondale Road
      • 60 Avondale Cross Road
      • 71 Avondale Road: The John A. Harvie House
      • 354 Belmont Road: The Yellow House
      • 603 Belmont Road: Wallace Point
      • 801 Avondale Road
      • The Acadia House
      • The Avondale Church
      • The Avondale Parsonage
      • The Church Farm
      • The Fred Robart House
      • The Henry Lyon House
      • The House Across From The Church
      • The John E.F. Mosher House
      • The Knowles Homestead
      • The Mounce Mansions >
        • Captain George R. Mounce House
        • The Thomas A. Mounce House (Honeymoon House) >
          • Interior of the Honeymoon House
      • The Mrs. Dunham Hotel
      • The Old Newton Mosher House
      • The Old Stone House >
        • The Mystery of the Fieldstone House
      • The Roley Mosher House
      • The W.H. Mosher House
    • The Avondale School
    • Avondale Wharf & The Landing
    • The Avon Spirit
    • Golden Age of Sail >
      • The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age of Sail in Newport
      • The Mosher Shipyards
      • Sailing Ships, Sugar, and Salt
      • Vessels of the Avon River
      • Shipbuilding Process
      • Shipbuilding Tools
      • Ship Directories
      • Kings Wharf
      • The Hamburg >
        • Obituary Capt. Andrew B. Coldwell
        • The Hamburg and Alice Coalfleet’s Diary
      • Captain George Richard Mounce Sr
      • Annie Armstrong Mounce Correspondence 1875-1892
      • Captain Daniel William Dexter & The Emma Payzant >
        • Captain Daniel William Dexter and Family, Interview with Debbie Siler, July 21st, 2021
        • Diary of Sarah Dexter, 1892-1893
      • The Rotundus
    • Community Orchard
    • Edmund McCarthy
  • Arts & Culture
    • The Great Little Art Show >
      • Great Little Art Show 2021 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2021 - Artwork
      • Great Little Art Show 2022 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2022 - Artwork
      • Great Little Art Show 2023
      • Great Little Art Show 2024 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2024 - Artwork
      • Great Little Art Show 2025 - Artists
      • Great Little Art Show 2025 - Artwork
    • Artists Landing Art Gallery
    • Open Studio
    • Full Circle Festival >
      • Sofa Sundays
      • Solstice Market
    • Paint Avondale
    • Avondale Wharf Day
    • Honey Harvest Festival
  • Events Calendar
  • Planters Sea Chest Gift Shop
  • Lydia & Sally Cafe
  • Venue Rentals
  • Volunteer and Employment Opportunities
    • Summer Employment Opportunities
    • Volunteer Teams
    • New Horizons for Seniors
  • How to find us!

Golden Age of Sail

The Avon River area became one of the great square-rigged wooden shipbuilding centers in Nova Scotia in the 19th Century and Newport Landing was the location of the Harvie and Mosher shipyards.

Tools from Mosher Shipyard
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Did you know that for many years shipbuilding was a large industry in Newport? The first known ship constructed in the area was built in 1807 by Nicholas Mosher for the purpose of transporting gypsum. Nicholas was the son of James Mosher who came to Newport as a Planter from New England aboard the Lydia.

Two of his other sons, Jehu and George, had children and grandchildren who also took part in shipbuilding in Newport. In 1866 two men, John A. Harvie and William H. Mosher, took control of the shipyard originally belonging to the sons of George for business reasons. In its first year of operation, the Mosher and Harvie shipyard employed 35 workers at a payroll cost of $1,400.

Ship-building at these yards ended with the great-grandson of Nicholas Mosher, Thomas A. Mosher, in 1892. The Moshers also built bridges over the Avon and Cogmagun Rivers. 

The shipyard which can be seen in these painting by David MacIntosh, was owned by the aforementioned Harvie and Mosher shipbuilders and launched all sorts of craft not far from the Avon River Heritage museum.


During the 1800s “Golden Age of Sail” the Avon River area became one of the great square-rigged wooden shipbuilding centers in Nova Scotia.

Hundreds of wooden vessels built along the Avon visited ports all over the world. Here in Newport Landing, over 165 vessels were built in two shipyards that were located on the lands of this park. Before this time, Mi’kmaq canoes and Acadian-made chaloupes plied the waters of the Avon River.
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Many of the ships from this site and from around the Minas Basin were built for the firm of Andrew Gibson, a wealthy cotton merchant in Liverpool, England. Captain George Mounce, Sr. became a ship-building agent for Andrew Gibson, placing orders, supervising construction, and investing in the vessels. Captain Mounce built the first of the two large houses on the crest of the hill on Avondale Road. His two sons, Ralph and Thomas, competed in house- building, with one son expanding Captain Mounce’s house and the second son building a second, more elaborate house next door. 
    
While ships were built for many purposes, from transporting gypsum to ferrying passengers, the growth in ship-building was largely driven by the needs of sugar production in the Caribbean. Locally-built ships carried salt fish to the West Indies, picked up sugar and its by-products (molasses and rum) to transport to England, and there loaded manufactured goods and salt for preserving fish. This Triangular Trade was built on the Transatlantic Slave Trade that saw over 12 million people enslaved and shipped from Africa to the Americas before this transport was halted in 1891. 

Timber for local ships was mostly softwood harvested during winter. Some ships were built closer to the source of timber and then floated, without masts, down the Kennetcook or St. Croix Rivers at high tide. Reminders of the “Golden Age of Sail” can be found in the grand houses here, remains of wharves, and artifacts in the museums along the Avon River.

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Mosher Genealogy

La région de la Rivière Avon a devenu un des grands centres de la construction navale en bois et avec les gréements en forme de carrés dans la Nouvelle-Écosse pendant le 19eme siècle et Newport Landing était l’endroit de le chantier navel Harvie et Mosher.

Saviez-vous que depuis de nombreuses années la construction navale était une grande industrie à Newport ? Le premier navire construit connu dans la région a été construit en 1807 par Nicholas Mosher dans le but de transporter du gypse. Nicholas était le fils de James Mosher qui est venu à Newport comme un « Planteur » de la Nouvelle-Angleterre à bord du Lydia. Deux de ses autres fils, Jehu et George, avaient des enfants et petits-enfants qui ont également pris part à la construction navale à Newport. À un certain moment dans les 1860 deux hommes, John Harvie et William Mosher, ont pris contrôle du chantier naval appartenant à l'origine aux fils de George, pour des raisons d'affaires. Le chantier naval qui peut être vu sur cette photographie a été possédé par les constructeurs Harvie et Mosher et a lancé toutes sortes d'embarcations pas loin d’Avon River Heritage Museum.

Avon River Heritage Centre, 17 Belmont Road, Avondale/Newport Landing, West Hants, Nova Scotia, B0N 2A0
Email us at [email protected]
Telephone us, May through October, at (902) 757-1718

The Avon River Heritage Society would like to thank the Municipality of West Hants and the Province of Nova Scotia for their generous support.

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