The Smith’s Cove Historical Society cares for 2 heritage buildings: The Temperance Hall (our museum) built in 1835; and the Methodist Church, which was built in 1885.
In 2004, the Methodist Church steeple was in critical condition and our Society was faced a crisis. We could try to raise $90,000 to repair the steeple, remove the steeple and lose the building’s heritage status, or tear the Church down. The Society reached out to the community for assistance. The Society’s volunteers held tea parties, sailboat races, and raffled off a beautiful hooked rug and we were able to raise the funds and repair the steeple. Today’s pictures document the raising of the new steeple in 2005.
In 2020 our Temperance Hall Museum operations were disrupted by the COVID-19 Health crisis. Our Historical Society once again reached out to the community, including seasonal residents, and local businesses through a Capital Fundraising Campaign. The response has been tremendous. Folks have made donations, bought our Lazy Bear beer tickets, and are now buying our hooked rug raffle tickets. We have also received grants from the municipal, Provincial, and Federal Governments. Thankyou so much to everyone who have helped us!
As a result, we have been able to continue our work preserving our local history, heritage, and culture. This year we have digitized a significant portion of our cataloged collections and expanded our community outreach. We also replaced the old roof on the garage part of the museum with a metal roof and are currently painting the front and steeple portion on the Church roof.
