Frommer's Review
The historic complex is an association of four local museums located within steps of one another. The most engaging is the Dory Shop, right on the waterfront. On the first floor you can admire examples of the simple, elegant craft (said to be invented in Shelburne) and view videos about the late Sidney Mahaney, a master builder who worked in this shop from the time he was 17 until he was 96. Then head upstairs, where all the banging is going on. There you'll meet Sidney's son and grandson, still building the classic boats using traditional methods. "The dory is a simple boat, but there are a lot of things to think about," says the grandson with considerable understatement. While you're there, ask about the difference between a Shelburne dory and a Lunenburg dory.
The Shelburne County Museum features a potpourri of locally significant artifacts from the town's Loyalist past. Most intriguing is the 1740 fire pumper; it was made in London and imported here in 1783. Behind the museum is the austerely handsome Ross-Thomson House (tel. 902/875-3219), built in 1784 through 1785. The first floor contains a general store as it might have looked in 1784, with bolts of cloth and cast-iron teakettles. Upstairs is a militia room with displays of antique and reproduction weaponry. The fourth museum, the Muir-Cox Shipbuilding Interpretive Centre, was added most recently and features, as you might guess, maritime displays of barks, sailboats, yachts, and more. If you're interested enough in these sorts of things, you could easily spend a half-day here, particularly with children. Plan to have lunch afterward in town
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