- Exhibits
- Entrance Hall
- Marine room
- Temporary Exhibit – 150 Years Living by the Rails
- Industry room
- Wry Collection
- Boultenhouse Family
The Marine Room highlights The Golden Age of Sail in the 19th century when Sackville was both a busy port and a ship-building centre.
The Port of Sackville model depicts the port installations and warehouses as they would have looked in 1887 during the decade of peak usage.
The original small public wharf was built in 1840–41 by local merchants with the assistance of a small public grant. A second private wharf was built by Ogden and Wood in the 1860s, and in 1877 a spur line from the Inter-Colonial Railroad was built to service the wharf. A further extension was built in 1887 when the NB & PEI Railway built a second railway spur and greatly extended the original wharf, creating the so-called Railway Wharf.
The Boultenhouse Shipyard model shows the yard in 1866 and illustrates the configuration of the shipyard buildings and slipways that were located on the banks of the Tantramar River some 1600 feet downstream from the Port of Sackville.
The buildings depict the large steam powered sawmill, pattern and sail building, blacksmith shop and shipyard foreman’s house. On the slipways in 1866 were the brigantine Gem and the 473 ton barque Cadette.
An outstanding feature of the Marine Roon is the original wallpaper. Produced c. 1815 on by the Dufour family of Paris, the designs of Turkish scenes are based on drawings by the artist Hilaire who travelled to Turkey in the 1790s.
This early form of wallpaper was printed by wood block on 16 × 19″ pieces, designed to overlap and form a complete scene. By the 1830s/1840s the Dufours had agents in New York and Boston. This wallpaper, which was installed when the house was built, is one of only 5 or 6 examples in the world of Dufour wallpaper preserved in such an excellent state.
