After another 8-hour day of sailing (often motor-sailing) we dropped Fayaway’s trusty hook just a stone’s throw away from a verdant golf course surrounded by thick aromatic trees. We comfortably sandwiched ourselves upwind to a beautiful Shannon 43 from Salem, MA, and to port of a boxy, black barge named Black Beauty. I said to Kelly, “There’s got to be a story behind this hulk.” We intend to find out…
From UNESCO.ORG: Lunenburg is the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. Established in 1753, it has retained its original layout and overall appearance, based on a rectangular grid pattern drawn up in the home country. The inhabitants have managed to safeguard the city’s identity throughout the centuries by preserving the wooden architecture of the houses, some of which date from the 18th century. Source: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/741/
And so the next morning we took a short ride in Korykory to dig into the town’s culture. We trudged up the gridded hillside neighborhood (sans cable car) to find an informative tourist office near an overlook where RVs partake in seasonal R&R. Inside the building a friendly and chatty chap suggested a walking tour comprised of Lunenburg’s must-see’s. Now feeling informed, we chose our own path, comprised of an outbound nature walk around the north side, finishing with priorities for food and satisfying historical interests.
All that walking around town made for our stomachs to start growling, and having passed several interesting eatery choices, we found a popular raw-bar – an ideal spot for addressing our nutritional desires.
Back again on the eastern end of town, we found Goldie, of the Ironworks Distillery, and signed on for his rum tasting / tour. The micro-distillery is located in an old blacksmith’s shop, where all the iron fittings were made for Lunenburg’s famous Bluenose schooner more than 100 years ago.
Our question answered: Goldie proudly explains the origins of Black Beauty, Fayaway’s anchoring mate: for aging their Rum Boat Rum: she holds multiple oak barrels, continuously yet gently sloshing the golden beverage aboard for three years before being bottled. “Ocean Aged”.
In 1753, the British government settled 1,453 “foreign Protestants” in Lunenburg. The settlers were recruited from southwestern Germany and the Montbéliard district of France and Switzerland. These mostly German-speaking people were intended to help counter the French and Catholic presence in Nova Scotia. The settlement was named for the royal house of Brunswick-Lüneburg, where King George I of England came from. Each settler was granted a free town-and-garden lot and farm acreage in the county. The town’s grid-like plan mirrored that of Halifax.
Today, Lunenburg is home to one of Canada’s largest fish-processing plants. The plant is owned and operated by High Liner Foods Inc., the successor to several Lunenburg-owned firms.
Lunenburg is also home to the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. The famous racing schooner Bluenose was launched from a local shipyard in 1921.
Read more from the Source: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lunenburg)
Then more cultural immersion… maritime museums…
On our second day, more walking, museums, reprovisioning, and a final dinner at the local harborside brewery.
Lunenburg’s rich culture has more to offer than we intended to enjoy during this brief stop. But we’ll be back on our way south in another month or so. Easy protected anchorage, proximity to dinghy ashore, and delicious dining makes for an attractive stopover. We depart early the following morning, taking advantage of mild weather, and moderate southwesterly breeze.
SV Fayaway 
Looks like a place to linger awhile
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