Description of Historic Place

The Little School Museum is a one-storey wood frame building constructed around 1845. It is located on Locke Street in the Town of Lockeport, Nova Scotia. Municipal heritage designation applies to the building and the land on which it is located.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Little School Museum in the Town of Lockeport lies in its history as the first purpose-built schoolhouse in the community and its current status as a community museum. It was probably built around 1845 as a private schoolhouse where peripatetic teachers were employed by the parents of the students. Publicly funded education did not come into being in Nova Scotia until 1864, and previous to that time it was left to parents or hired tutors to educate the young. James D. Locke, a local merchant, apparently undertook the construction of this schoolhouse on lands deeded to him by his father. One of the early teachers hired to work here was a James Glenn Allen who settled in Lockeport and after leaving the teaching profession became a prominent shipping merchant in the community.

After public education was initiated in the province, a larger school was built to accommodate the increased student population. This old schoolhouse was subsequently sold to John Anderson, who had retired from the Militia and married a local girl. It is presumed that the back ell and the front porch were added on while the Andersons lived here. During their residence, John Anderson was employed as a watchman at a quarantine station on one of the nearby islands, where people arriving from foreign ports and returning seamen were held until it was ascertained that they were not carrying any contagious diseases. After Mr. Anderson’s death in 1898 his heirs retained ownership of the property until 1967 when it was sold to the Lockeport Garden Club.

In 1967 the Lockeport Garden Club took on the restoration of the abandoned building as a Centennial project. It was realized that this was an important part of the community’s history, thus the decision was made to transform it into a museum wherein artefacts from the area could be housed so local children, and others, could learn more about the area’s past. The Garden Club continued the management and maintenance of the property until 1983, when the property was sold to the Town of Lockeport, which has continued stewardship of the historic site.

The Little School Museum is a one-storey vernacular style building of wood frame construction with a lower one-storey ell centred on the back. It has a medium pitched hip roof, an open front porch, a symmetrical three-bay façade and double hung sash windows. There are no eaves overhangs on the building and the only trim elements are simple framing around the windows and doors and plain frieze boards.

Source: Municipal Heritage Property files, ”Little School Museum”, Town of Lockeport, NS.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Little School Museum include:
- location in a rural community;
- proximity to one other registered heritage property;
- one-storey wood frame construction with a one-storey back ell;
- medium pitched hip roof;
- symmetrical three-bay façade;
- double-hung sash windows;
- simple trim elements.