Description of Historic Place

LeNoir Forge is a one-and-one half storey, French Style, stone building situated at the water’s edge in Arichat, Nova Scotia. Built in 1793, LeNoir Forge was a prominent port for the shipbuilding industry until 1967 when it became a museum. Both the building and the surrounding property are included in the designation.

Heritage Value

LeNoir Forge is valued for its association with the LeNoir family and the shipbuilding industry of the nineteenth century. Thomas LeNoir and his brother were blacksmiths who supplied local shipyards during the early part of the nineteenth century. Arichat was the fourth most prominent port in Nova Scotia between 1830-1870, the boom years of the shipbuilding industry of the Maritime Provinces. By the end of the nineteenth century business at the forge had ceased and the building fell to disrepair.

LeNoir Forge is also valued architecturally as a French style building. The buildings most prominent feature is its masonry. Built of load bearing stone; rubble stone on the north and west walls and cut stones on the east and south walls, the forge is a unique industrial structure of the Arichat community. The building was extensively rebuilt after its purchase by the municipality and restored into a museum. Some of the walls were reconstructed and a new roof was added.

Source: Notice of Registration of Property as a Provincial Heritage Property, Provincial Property Heritage File no. 053.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of LeNoir Forge include:

- location of the forge on the north shore of Arichat Harbour;
- all original rubble stone on the north and west walls and all original cut stones on the east and south walls;
- corner quoins made of rectangular-cut sandstone blocks.