Goldenville is a small community located near to

Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia Sherbrooke is an unincorporated community on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia, Canada, in Guysborough County. It is located along the St. Mary's River, a major river in Nova Scotia. The community is named for Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, a co ...

in the Municipality of the District of St. Mary's. The community is mainly a forestry community but also has a gold mining museum.

History

Nelson Nickerson found gold in the Goldenville area in August, 1861 and Zeba Hewitt built one of the first houses in the village that fall. By July, 1862, several houses had been erected in Goldenville and mining was begun. Two wharves were built the following spring and a road was constructed to the diggings. In 1867 the Templars erected a hall that was also used as a church. An

Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...

Lodge Hall was built in 1869 and the lower part was used as a schoolroom. A

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

Lodge Hall was also built in 1869. A Roman Catholic chapel was built in Goldenville in 1871, but was moved to Sherbrooke in 1907. A

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

church was opened in Goldenville on January 12, 1902. Gold production in Goldenville from 1862 to 1941 is reported to have been 209,383.3 oz., the best producer in Nova Scotia. In 2018 the

Government of Nova Scotia The Government of Nova Scotia (, ) is the government of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The powers and structure of the province are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867. In modern Canadian use, the term ...

initiated the process of closing the former gold mining site that is heavily contaminated with arsenic and mercury.

References

Goldenville on Destination Nova Scotia
Communities in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia Mining communities in Nova Scotia {{GuysboroughNS-geo-stub