During the past year we have been exploring the impact of the Museum's first Curator, Dr. David Honeyman, and his work representing Nova Scotia at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. Today, as we celebrate the 200th birthday of John Ruskin (Born Feb. 8, 1819), it is exciting to have recently discovered a historical connection between Ruskin and the early geology collection of the Nova Scotia Museum.

Heritage Day

Mon. February 18, 2019

Celebrated the third Monday in February, Nova Scotia Heritage Day is an annual reminder of our storied past and an opportunity to honour the remarkable people, places and events that have contributed to this province’s unique heritage. The 2019 Heritage Day Honouree is Maud Lewis.

Many of our sites will be open this festive season, start a tradition and spend your holidays at a museum. Many of our seasonal sites have trails, perfect for a winter walk in the woods.

Museum of Natural History

Christmas Eve, December 24 - closed

Many of the Nova Scotia Museum sites, specifically the historical houses, are only open seasonally. However, on these dark winter days, it is not uncommon to see a light on in the windows as museum staff quietly work on projects, research, and planning for the next busy year.  This winter, the Nova Scotia Museum is exploring our research files to rediscover stories about our museums and the people they celebrate.

Here's some of the latest events from across the Nova Scotia Museum.

The Mastodon femur recently put back on display at the Museum of Natural History, was found in Middle River, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This bone has a big history!

Big Sandy

The huge bone was discovered by a Alexander McRae in 1834. Alexander's nick-name was "Big Sandy". We don't know if the Mastodon was a male or female, and it was found along the banks of the river, so Big Sandy might be a good nick-name for this historic femur.

Honeyman and the Moose

Map of Antigonish County, by David Honeyman, NSIS 1(4), 1867.

During the Museum's 150th anniversary, we are taking time to learn more about the Museum's history - including Dr. David Honeyman, the first Curator of the Nova Scotia Museum. As a paleontologist and geoscientist, I am particularly interested in Honeyman's work studying and promoting the geology of Nova Scotia. There are many stories to share (stay tuned), but it seems appropriate to start with his map.

19th Century Science and Culture

As we begin the journey of #FindingHoneyman, we start with a timeline of David Honeyman - the first Curator of the Nova Scotia Museum. This timeline provides an opportunity to discover links between between life events and historical contexts.

There’s something about a birthday that ends with a “0” that prompts reflection. These milestones feel like big accomplishments, moments to look at how far we’ve come while we take a pause before embarking on the next chapter.

As we end the 2018 Fort Saint Louis field season, a big thank you is extended to all who contributed to the excavation. Heather R. of AFN was with us to the end. A natural excavator, we hope she will join us next year!

We are in the last hours of site preparations before closing everything up. Visitors pop by to have one more look at excavations.

This wall was uncovered during the public dig 4 weeks ago. As anticipated, it continues from the wall we found last year.

We had many visitors to the site today. It was great to share our discoveries.

Two local public archaeology dig participants returned to the site to see how excavation has progressed in recent weeks

We had some bailing to do in the units this morning. A lot of rain the day before.

David Jones joined us today and worked in a unit with an unusual charcoal stain.

It's rainy here today so its a great opportunity to begin cleaning artifacts. The bags are stacking up!

We cleared the kitchen table at the crew house and set up wash basins and toothbrushes.

By: Dr. Tim Fedak, Acting Curator of Geology, Nova Scotia Museum

Nova Scotia is becoming known globally as an innovative centre in the use of 3D visualization for research and industrial projects. 

A small workshop was held at the Nova Scotia Museum in May that highlighted several 3D digitization projects.

A very foggy day on site today.

Thomasina uncovered a wonderful artifact today - a fragment of rolled trade copper.

We had a steady stream of visitors yesterday. The Acadian community is particularly interested in this early French archaeology site.

We had all the canopies up. It was a warm digging day.