The Society

About East Hants Historical Society

An initiative inspired by Canada’s Centennial Celebrations, the Society was formed in 1967 with a clear mandate to gather, preserve, and promote East Hants history and heritage. Regular meetings were held between March and November, at which programs related to East Hants' history were presented.

             Charter Members of East Hants Historical Society

Mrs. Emma Aalders	Rev. W. E. Aitken
Mrs. W. E. Aitken	Mrs. Phyllis Blakely
Mr. Bernard Bruce	Mrs. Edgar P. Cox
Mrs. Audrey Densmore	Mrs. Hattie M. Densmore
Mrs. Cora Etter	Mrs. Lorna Etter
Rev. Dr. E. V. Forbes	Mr. Ross Graves
Miss Clare Gass	Mrs. Barbara Grantmyre
Miss Brenda Grantmyre	Mrs. Ervette Hamilton
Mr. Chester Hennigar	Mrs. Olive Hennigar
Mrs. John P. Hennigar	Mr. John P. Hennigar
Mrs. Thelma Ingraham	Miss Abbie Lawrence
Mrs. Alice McDuffie	Mrs. Ruby McKiel
Mrs. Marion McKiel	Mr. Raymond McKiel
Mr. Rexford McKiel	Mrs. Jessie Reid
Mrs. Alice Reid	Mr. Jack Ross
Mrs. Annie Wallace	Mr. Alan Whidden
Miss Anna Whidden	Miss Helen Whidden
Mr. Ralph E. Whittier	Mrs. E. Putnam Cossette

In 1981, the realization of one of the Society’s goals arose with the opportunity to lease from the United Church of Canada a no-longer-used church building in Lower Selma. History enthusiasts living in East Hants or with long-time connections to the district quickly provided artifacts, photos, and documents to build exhibits commemorating East Hants’ rural history—exhibits including tools of the lumbering, shipbuilding, and sea-going trades, remembering the efforts and losses of East Hants families to World War I and II, and exhibits recognizing the household arts and practices, and the culture and heritage that sustained families.

In recent years, permanent exhibits have been set up commemorating the Mi’kmaw presence in the territory of Sipekne’katik in East Hants, the Acadian habitations along the Cobequid/Shubenacadie shore, and the intensive settlement of British and other Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Today, the Society owns the museum property and operates within a governance model adopted in 2015. It has a 10-member Board of Directors and is registered with the Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stocks. It is also a member of the Association of Nova Scotia Museums and the East Hants Chamber of Commerce.

As part of its mandate, the Society maintains and continues to update cemetery headstone records maintained offline as a searchable database. A program committee manages the program presentation agenda. An oral history component is now being realized.

Board of Directors

Greg Hussey (President)
Patricia Whidden (Past President/Archive Chair)

Christine Whidden (Treasurer/Membership Chair)

Elizabeth Hill (Museum Co-Chair)

Andrew Hebda (Museum Co-Chair)

John McLellan (Noel Shore/Lower Selma Cemetery Liaison)

Janice Lockyer (Member-at-Large) 

John Grant (Member-at-large)   

Marcel Dionne (Member-at-Large)
Devin Roach (Member-at-Large)