This timeline was prepared to mark the 175th anniversary of Broad Cove Community Hall. It is meant to be a recording of significant dates pertaining to the Hall and the village close to and after the Hall was built.
For much of its history, the Hall has been inextricably linked with the two churches for which our village has been known. We have therefore gone back a bit further in history to include the dates those institutions were built (1842 and 1844.) For good measure we then went back to the opening of the first school in 1837.
While we have strived for accuracy of dates, sometimes it’s hard to pin down the exact year for some events. Please consider all these dates open for possible discussion when warranted or when more accurate documents surface.
During our research, we realized that events which once seemed unimportant can become significant over time. Therefore, we’ve included a wide range of recent events that might later be seen as important. This is meant to be a living document, with new events—past or future—added over time. If you know of anything that should be included, updated or changed, please tell us.
For a more thorough account of dates and lives of Broad Cove’s early inhabitants, both Mi’kmaw and European, we respectfully refer the reader to three publications:
• Townsend, D. (1992). A Place Called Broad Cove. West Lahave Print Company
• Skinner, C., & Richards, M. (2016). Some Good Life, You! Collected Memories of Broad Cove, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, 1763-1965. Norstead Farm. The chapter, A History of Broad Cove, pp. 5-20, is of special note.)
• Onslow, W.R. Onslow. (1988) A Short History of the United Communities of Vogler Cove, Broad Cove and Cherry Hill, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. Freelance Publications.
Prepared by Phyllis Price, with Mary Frier and Stephanie Yee, and with the assistance of recordings and recollections of many Broad Covers, past and present. Special thanks to local historians Blake Conrad and Carroll L’Esperance for answering questions and supporting our research along the way.
Spring, 2025.
Timeline 1837-2025
1837
First school built. This was not a completely public school but was subsidised by the province. By 1840 there were 30 students (4 Rinards, 2 Teals, 1 Pence, 1 Wagner, 2 Clattenburgs. The rest were Conrads).
1842
St. Mark’s Anglican Church is built.
1844
St. Matthew’s Methodist Church is built.
1848
Original Broad Cove School (built in 1837, but closed May,1845) reopens.
1850
Broad Cove Community Hall is built.
Bell put on St. Mark’s Anglican Church.
1868
First post office in Broad Cove opens in home of Simon Croft.
c. 1870-1890
Original school burns down and a new school is built on the same site, somewhere between 1870’s and 1900.
1895
First phone installed in Broad Cove for Simon Croft, store owner and Justice of the Peace.
c. 1904-1908
First breakwater is built on hall side of cove.
1902
Original St. Matthews’s Methodist is replaced by construction of new church
1910
Petite Riviere and Voglers Cove Telephone Co. is established – to be used only by Liberals(!) Directory shows 5 listings for 3 households.
1917
Halifax explosion is heard in Broad Cove.
1922
Road widened for cars.
1924
Telephone service expanded with creation of Cherry Hill Mutual Tel. Co. – 13 subscribers.
1925
Broad Cove Hall expansion – hall cut in half and separated, with new section put in middle.
1929
Phone lines consolidated under MT&T.
Late 1920’s-1945
Gaius Bollivar runs taxi service to Bridgewater, Liverpool and occasionally Halifax.
1945-1953
Gaius Bollivar purchases a 35-passenger bus and in November begins operation between Broad Cove and Bridgewater.
1946-1948
Electricity comes to Broad Cove (lobbying to get it had begun in 1928).
1948
Navy plane crash-lands on Morton’s Hill in Broad Cove.
1956
Population of Broad Cove 206.
1958
Broad Cove Chapter of Women’s Institute is organized.
1961
Broad Cove School closes when Petite Elementary School opens.
c.1961-1963
Road is paved in Broad Cove making hall too close to the road; hall is then moved back from road to current location.
1969
Federal government turns down an appeal to make repairs to east breakwater, claimingthat only six fishermen make use of the facilities, with a landed catch for the year, worth only $21,500. Local Women’s Institute Chapter begins advocacy campaign to push government to make the necessary repairs.
1970
Post office in Bolllivar’s store closes, ending Marjorie Bollivar’s 28-year run as postmistress. Canada Post establishes rural route delivery to individual and group mailboxes.
July 3, 1971
Chronicle Herald features article on the success of “nagging women” in local Women’s Institute pushing government to repair east breakwater.
1972
South Shore Regional Library System begins regular runs of bookmobile, including a stop at Broad Cove Hall.
1973
Cherry Hill forest fire threatens to wipe out Cherry Hill and adjacent villages. Two weeks later, Broad Cove resident Audrey Bowers convenes meeting at hall to form United Communities Fire Department (covering Cherry Hill, Broad Cove, and Voglers Cove.)
1977-1978
Streetlights are installed in Broad Cove (along with Cherry Hill and Voglers Cove), after an earlier (1976) petition. Yearly cost for streetlights becomes an annual item in municipal budget (to be charged back to communities) in 1978.
1982
Broad Cove Community Hall Association becomes incorporated under NS Societies Act.
1984
Bollivar’s store closes to the public.
1985
Private phone lines established in Broad Cove.
c.1985-1987
Sattler’s Stained-Glass Studio (West Lahave) designs, constructs and donates two stained glass windows to St. Mark’s Anglican Church in appreciation to the warm welcome and assistance they received when first moving to Nova Scotia.
1986
Piping Hot Bake Shoppe opens on Beach Road, with proprietors Janet and Keith Korneski, opens.
1988
South Shore Country Inn, Tea Room and Store opens under Proprietor Avril Betts.
1989
Barry and Wayne Smith, together with Anson Conrad, build and mount steeple on St. Mark’s belfry.
1992
In response to challenges of an aging population and the hall’s kitchen & dining area being upstairs, Hall Trustees seek engineering assessment of hall structure and options. Engineer, suggested 3 options 1) adding 28 feet to front of hall, including part of roof. (Note: not recommended by engineer. 2) adding 28 feet to front of hall, with new roof trusses 3) Build a new hall. When options are presented at a public meeting, villagers reject all three in the hopes of preserving the hall in a way that maintains its vintage feel.
Trustees of Broad Cove Community Hall (Anson Conrad, Edsel Herman, Merville Smith, Wayne Smith, Myles Rafuse) convey ownership of property of Broad Cove Hall to Broad Cove Community Association for $1, through a Trustees Deed. (006524)
1993
Beachcombers Senior’s Club is started. Shortly after gets funding to purchase new furnace for hall.
c.1993-1994
Broad Cove computer users begin to be able to use email through dial-up service
through Nova Scotia Technical Network (NSTN). (Source:
Broad Cove Village and Hall Timeline p. 4
https://bonmot.ca/~daniel/HistoryOfTheInternetInNovaScotia)
Mid-to-late 90’s
MTT creates extended area service so that Broad Cove residents no longer have long distance charges to Broad Cove and Lahave exchanges.
2002
Residents becoming increasingly concerned about need for protection of “common” lands and begin advocacy campaign to ensure lands remain in public hands.
2004
Broad Cove Hall Association officially changes its name to Broad Cove Community Association (BCCA) and adds to its objectives a stewardship role for the publicly-used
lands adjacent to the local beach.
2005
Best Cost Coffee Galley opens. Owners Wendy and Tony Michener. Operates til 2018.
2008
St. Matthews United Church closes.
2009
Concerns raised to local councilor (Eric Hustvedt) and municipal staff re unregulated camping at beach.
2011
Volunteer Peter Silver spearheads the start, with support from Department of Transportation, of twice-yearly community roadside cleanup process.
2013
Volunteers clear land on side and back of hall to enable coastal view.
BCCA begins strategic planning process.
BCCA begins process in partnership with MODL and the Province to clarify title to the lands above beach.
2015
BCCA begins practice of hosting one or two events each year with the purpose of building community and being socially inclusive. Also begins official “welcoming” program for new community members, making it a standing item on board agenda.
2016
BCCA initiates community visioning activity with a look into the past, hosting the Broad Cove History and Potluck to share past stories and help launch book Some Good Life, You!
2017
BCCA board surveys community for input into future directions. Majority of feedback recommends continuing current mandate of looking after the hall and being stewards of
the beach and common grounds. Several people indicate concern about public access to the coastal path between Green Bay and Broad Cove.
BCCA receives CANADA 150 grant funding (from Municipality of the District of Lunenburg’s Canada 150 Fund) to create an outdoor mural (Anna Bald artist).
2018
BCCA articulates of first version of vision: an accessible, year-round facility with a smaller carbon footprint that would be used on a regular basis. Immediate board priorities are water filtration system, insulation, new heating system, new windows, accessible entrances and washroom.
Artist Anna Bald installs the results of her work, a 3-panel piece entitled “Introduced and Invasive.” The installation celebrates the beauty, joy, and sense of community in this seaside village, with the Hall offering a focal point in the tryptic. The work also highlights the impact this presence has had on the environment, and our collective role as stewards moving forward.
BCCA volunteers begin writing grants for help in funding hall renovations with the focus on staying open year-round – insulation, furnace and new windows. Next step will be to improve accessibility for all with new bathrooms and a tea/coffee station downstairs.
Greater Petite Area Community Association (with whom BCCA partners) wins battle to keep open Petite Riviere Elementary School.
BCCA hires Fulcrum Accessibility Consultants to conduct accessibility audit of school. (Completed November 2018).
2019
BCCA, in partnership with other organizations in catchment area of Petite Riviere Elementary School, wins Lieutenant Governor’s Community Spirit Award.
2021
BCCA begins Broad Cove Hall Revitalization campaign aimed at raising 170K to fund accessibility renovations at hall.
BCCA receives generous funding from Government of Canada (c. $126 K.) and Municipality of the District of Lunenburg ($10K) to go towards hall renovation.
2022
With the help of many hours of pro-bono work done by Andrew Kimball of Patterson Law, the board coordinates the migration of hall property and merger of 2 separate PID’s (Property Identification Numbers). This enables the BCCA to qualify for a line of credit at LaHave River Credit Union.
Hall renovations begin in April.
Hall receives $35,000 from Province of Nova Scotia (Communities, Culture and Heritage) to go towards accessibility renovations at hall.
Broad Cove Hall Revitalization project completed on time and on budget despite Covid pandemic!
2023
Wifi is installed at Broad Cove Community Hall.
2024
After approximately 20 years of BCCA advocacy, MODL agrees to expropriate area above Broad Cove Beach so that it can become public land and protected as community-managed park.
2025
Broad Cove Community Hall celebrates 175 years of being an integral part of Broad Cove Community.
Population c.178 Full-time Residents; (Part-time 68)