The average age of the buildings on Dock Street may well be greater than that of any other street in Nova Scotia, with many of the buildings, mostly residences, having been built in the 1780s.
In January of 1997 The Cooper's Inn was awarded the
Nova Scotia Home Awards Historical Restoration Award for 1996 for the restoration of the Inn.
The George Gracie House is one of the eighteenth century residences along Dock Street, dating from 1785. A large two and a half storey house standing on a corner lot, the Gracie House is near the north end of Dock Street. Its two storey guest house is now attached via balconies and stairs. The upper floor consists primarily of four large dormers, one facing each direction.
Now operated as a bed & breakfast,
The Cooper's Inn, it takes its name from the fact that it stands across Dock Street from an old wood frame building which, at one time, was a barrel making factory. As well, the guest house in the rear of the main house was also used as a cooperage in the early 1900s.
The Inn offers eight rooms, four in the guest house and four in the main room. The eighth room is a suite with two bedrooms, four piece en-suite with large soaker tub, galley kitchen and washer and dryer, occupying the entire top floor. In the fenced yard is a garden which, in the summer season, hosts "Happy Hour" between 5 & 6PM.
Shelburne's History
Shelburne Harbour has the third best natural harbour in the world. The native Mik'maq traversed the Roseway River and used the surrounding lands for summer encampments long before our shores were visited by Spanish, Portuguese and French fishermen.
In the spring of 1783, 5,000 settlers arrived on the shores of Shelburne Harbour from New York and the middle colonies of America. Assurance of living under the British flag, and promises of free land, tools, and provisions lured many to the British Colonies at that time. Four hundred families associated to form a town at Port Roseway, which Governor Parr renamed Shelburne later that year. This group became known as the Port Roseway Associates. In the fall of 1783, a second wave of settlers arrived in Shelburne. By 1784, the population of this new community is estimated to have been at least 10,000; the fourth largest in North America, much larger than either Halifax or Montreal.
In 1787, government distribution of provisions was terminated. Within a few years, houses were put up for sale, and settlers left for England, New Brunswick, Upper Canada, and the United States. In the 1820s, the population of Shelburne had dwindled to about 300.
Although much smaller today than when it started, Shelburne remains the capital of the county which bears its name. It was incorporated as a town on April 4, 1907. The population in 2011 was 1686. Many descendants of the original Loyalists still live in the area today.
From the Town of Shelburne
Cooper's Inn - The Early Years
Built in 1784, in the aftermath of the American Revolution, as pro-British refugees flooded into Shelburne, the original vertical log structure served as both store and home to a remarkable blind man, George Gracie.
In 1785 Gracie was a refugee merchant from Boston and was to become one of two representatives of Shelburne County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.
During restoration in 1987/88 it was found that the Inn was built in two stages - the north side was built first and is where the Owners' Apartments are located, the logs are still in place in the walls, it was followed by the south side Stories have it that the north side with its vertical log walls was floated up from Boston in George Gracie's ship the "Experiment", assembled and the south side added at that time.
The smaller building at the rear of the main house was used as a cooperage from about 1904 until 1917 when Chandley Smith built a new Barrel Factory across the street where barrels are still made today.
The old cooperage now houses four rooms all with private baths, two upstairs and two on the ground level with one that opens onto the breezeway and the other onto the garden.
From The Cooper's Inn
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