A volunteer-run registered charity keeping the records, photographs and stories of Caledonia and the North Queens district - and the 1854 house that holds them.
The North Queens Heritage Society exists to collect, preserve and share the history, records and material heritage of the North Queens district of Queens County, Nova Scotia.
That means a great many different things in practice: opening the North Queens Heritage House museum each summer, answering genealogical enquiries from around the world, cataloguing the photographs and ledgers North Queens families bring through our door, and telling the district's stories through exhibits, publications, talks and our annual historical calendar.
We cover the whole of North Queens - Caledonia, West Caledonia, Kempt, Harmony Mills, Northfield, Pleasant River, the Brookfields, Westfield, Maitland Bridge, Molega, Greenfield and every community in between.
From eight pioneer families to a community museum - the milestones behind the Society and the district it serves.
Seven Scots and one Irishman - Alexander Spears, Andrew McLeod, Edward Hayes, Allan MacLean, Richard Telfer, John Douglas, and George and David Middlemas - clear land for farms along the new road north.
Milton Foster Douglas and his father John build the farmhouse on West Caledonia Road that is now the North Queens Heritage House - one of the oldest homes in the district.
Caledonia becomes the hub for the gold rush at nearby Whiteburne and North Brookfield. Prospectors, mines and newspapers like The Gold Hunter and Farmers' Journal follow.
Guides and sporting camps flourish in the Kejimkujik country. Paul Yates photographs the lodges, canoe trips and guides between 1908 and 1923.
Local residents form the North Queens Heritage Society to gather the district's records and photographs before they are lost, and restore the Douglas house as a museum and archive.
With the North Queens Remembrance Day Committee and veteran Chris Charlton, the Society publishes a booklet profiling local service members who did not come home.
The Heritage House opens on June 16, the 2026 historical calendar sells in shops across Caledonia, and the Society works through the impact of provincial funding cuts.
Members are the backbone of the Society. Your membership helps heat the house, buy archival supplies and keep the doors open - and it gives you a vote at the Annual General Meeting each spring.
Membership rates shown are placeholders - please confirm current fees with the Treasurer.
The Society is governed by a volunteer board elected by the membership at the Annual General Meeting, held each spring.
Registered Canadian CharityCharitable registration no. 888862398RR0001. Official tax receipts are issued for eligible donations.
The 2026 AGM was held on April 13 at the Heritage House, following an open house on the impact of provincial cuts to community museums.
Read the update