Great Village: Architecture, Literature, and Landscape
Accommodation in Great Village
Great Village brings together striking historic architecture and a special literary connection to the landscape of the Bay of Fundy. If you’re looking for a place to visit with cultural history and a rural character, you’ll find several distinct points of interest here: a 19th-century wooden house, a historically significant school, a church connected to regional history, and venues for art and entertainment.
Architecture and Literature in Great Village
The Bulmer House is a one-and-a-half-storey wooden house in the Classical Revival style. It was built in the early to mid-19th century in the centre of Great Village. Its form and style clearly situate it within architectural history. From the back of the house, there are views of marshland and the Bay of Fundy—landscape features that shape its distinctive connection to its surroundings.
The poet Elizabeth Bishop, who received the Pulitzer Prize, is also associated with the Bulmer House. Her work drew on the imagery of the Great Village landscape and the house. Here, architectural history and literature meet: the house is not only an example of 19th-century architecture, but is also connected to images that recur in Bishop’s work. Those interested in literature can appreciate this connection as a distinct way of engaging with the place, alongside its architecture.
Another prominent building is Great Village School. It was built in 1903/04 and opened on November 8, 1904. Its style combines elements of the Classical and Italianate styles. A central projecting pavilion and a louvred bell tower divide the façade into three bays. The school is provincially registered because of its unique architectural design. Its precise construction dates and clearly articulated façade make it a distinctive chapter in the history of the village.
St. James United Church also tells the story of Great Village’s historical development. The church stands at the corner of Economy Road and Old Cumberland Road and faces the Minas Basin. Its history is connected to Presbyterianism in the former Township of Londonderry. It also reflects the engagement of Nova Scotia–born architect James Charles Dumaresq with Gothic Revival architecture in the Great Village area. This building brings together religious history and a regional interpretation of an architectural style.
Landscape and Village Character
The marshland and the Bay of Fundy form part of the view from the back of the Bulmer House. The church, in turn, faces the Minas Basin. These two specific landscape connections offer different perspectives on the historic buildings. Great Village may therefore be particularly interesting if you’d like to combine architectural discoveries with views of the landscape—though the two locations cannot be combined into a single route.
Antiques, Entertainment, and the River
Layton’s General Store was built in the 1860s and opened by Leander Carson Layton in 1870. Today, Great Village Antiques occupies the former store and is billed as “Nova Scotia’s Largest Antique Group Shop.” Here, the history of a former store meets its present-day use. Those interested in the development of historic buildings will find a connection to a former commercial building here, alongside the school and church buildings.
The Great Village Arts & Entertainment Centre offers live entertainment. This arts and entertainment venue complements the village’s architectural and historical attractions. Rivergrove Campground is located along the Great Village River.
More village pages: Truro, Eastville, Alton, Stewiacke, Five Islands, Riverside, Tatamagouche, Upper Stewiacke.
For the broader travel overview: Colchester County.
