The Tupperville School Museum

The Tupperville School Museum is located on Hwy 201 between Bridgetown and Annapolis Royal.

Tupperville is a heritage country village on historic Route 201 which winds its way along the south side of the Annapolis Valley. It is a serene little village with the Acadian dykes along the Annapolis River on one side and the South Mountain rising up on the other.

Before it became known as Tupperville it was known as Girouard Village due to the many generations of the Girouard family living here. The community was later named after Sir Charles Tupper who was Prime Minister of Canada in 1896.

The village is full of traditional homes, farms and orchards and can still boast about having it's own community Hall, (circa 1908); a heritage church and it's original one-room school house which is now a provincial museum.

The schoolhouse was built in 1869 and was moved to it's present location in 1885. After a long struggle with the Annapolis County School Board the little school was closed in 1970. It had covered grades 1 - 11 in it's one room.

The year after it closed the little building was re-opened but this time as a museum by the community with the assistance of the Nova Scotia Museums. In the spring of 2000, the Tupperville School Museum was designated a registered heritage site by the Province of Nova Scotia.

The museum has some 2500 visitors each year, they come to spend a day in an authentic one-room school house, complete with century old pine desks, an organ, an antique school book collection and numerous old photos, artifacts and memorabilia from the olden days. They even still have the old school bell. Also on display is a collection of Aboriginal crafts and a genuine Acadian clay oven. There are also many pictures of the area and interesting old furniture.

The museum is open from the end of May until the beginning of September plus at other times by appointment. Admission is free.

Have you ever had homemade ice cream? No, it is by far the best ice cream you will ever have.

On the last Saturday of July make sure to take in the Tupperville School Museum Annual Homemade Ice Cream Festival! It is a full afternoon of fun and activities for the whole family, and you can have some home made ice cream in your favorite flavour.

The ice cream festival started back in 1973 and has been well attended ever since. This is all run by volunteers in the community and any proceeds go to the Tupperville School Museum.

At one time they offered as many as 35 different flavours for you to try, but now they have cut that back to around 10 - 12 of the favorites plus a few new ones for you to try out. Find your favorites like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, raspberry, peach and grapenut or try something new like ginger, smores or bubblegum!

During the afternoon the kids can take part in several old fashioned good fun and games like the egg races. They also hold community exhibits, auctions, barbecues and live entertainment.

Just up the road at the Community Hall make sure to take in the Tupperville Annual Art Show & Sale with more than 20 mixed media artist taking part.

Leave The Tupperville School Museum and return to see other Annapolis Valley Museums