Lunenburg County
County
Lunenburg harbourfront
Nickname:  "Christmas Tree Capital of the World"[1]
Location of Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia
Coordinates:44°30′N64°30′W / 44.5°N 64.5°W /44.5; -64.5
Country	Canada
Province	Nova Scotia
District municipalities	Chester /Lunenburg
Towns	Bridgewater /Lunenburg /Mahone Bay
Established	August 17, 1759
Divided into District Municipalities	April 17, 1879
Electoral Districts Federal	South Shore–St. Margaret's
Provincial	Chester-St. Margaret's /Lunenburg /Lunenburg West
Area [2]
• Land	2,906.47 km2 (1,122.19 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2][3]
• Total	48,599
• Density	16.7/km2 (43/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-4 (AST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-3 (ADT)
Area code	902
Dwellings	24,786
Median Income*	$43,257CDN
Median household income, 2005 (all households)

Lunenburg County is a historicalcounty and census division on theSouth Shore of theCanadian province ofNova Scotia. Major settlements includeBridgewater,Lunenburg, andMahone Bay.

Named in honour of the British king who was also the duke ofBrunswick-Lüneburg, it was established in 1759, when theNova Scotia peninsula was divided into five counties. The county became smaller when new counties were created from its boundaries:Queens (1762),Hants (1781),Shelburne (1784), andSydney (1784).

By Chapter 52 of the Statutes of 1863, Lunenburg County was divided into two districts for court sessional purposes –Chester and Lunenburg. That statute provided authority for the appointment of aCustos Rotulorum and for the establishment of a general sessions of the peace for the District of Chester, with the same powers as if it were a separate county. In 1879, the two districts were incorporated asdistrict municipalities.

Today the county has no legal status, although its borders are coincident with the five municipalities contained within it:

• themunicipality of the District of Chester
• themunicipality of the District of Lunenburg
• the town ofBridgewater
• the town ofLunenburg
• the town ofMahone Bay

The above municipalities comprise the entire territory of the county.^[4]

There are threeSipekneꞌkatik First Nation reserves in the county:

• Gold River 21
• New Ross 20
• Pennal 19

As acensus division in the2021 Census of Population conducted byStatistics Canada, Lunenburg County had a population of48,599 living in22,443 of its27,092 total private dwellings, a change of3.1% from its 2016 population of47,126. With a land area of 2,906.47 km² (1,122.19 sq mi), it had a population density of16.7/km² (43.3/sq mi) in 2021.^[5]

Population trend[6][7] Census Population Change (%) 1871 23,834 N/A 1881 28,583 19.93% 1891 31,075 8.72% 1901 32,389 4.23% 1911 33,260 2.69% 1921 33,742 1.45% 1931 31,674 6.13% 1941 32,942 1.45% 1981 45,746 N/A 1986 46,483 2.5% 1991 47,634 4.1% 1996 47,561 0.2% 2001 47,591 0.1% 2006 47,150 0.9% 2011 47,313 0.3% 2016 47,126 0.4% 2021 48,599 3.1%

Mother tongue language (2011)[8] Language Population Pct (%) English only 45,305 96.83% French only 525 1.12% Non-official languages 805 1.72% Multiple responses 150 0.32%

Ethnic Groups (2006)[9] Ethnic Origin Population Pct (%) Canadian 19,265 41.3% German 16,290 34.9% English 13,405 28.8% Scottish 8,655 18.6% French 6,360 13.6% Irish 6,155 13.2% Dutch (Netherlands) 3,105 6.7% North American Indian 1,930 4.1% Welsh 1,000 2.1%

Religious make-up (2001)[10] Religion Population Pct (%) Protestant 34,220 72.80% No religious affiliation 6,810 14.49% Catholic 5,230 11.13% Christian n.i.e. 535 1.14% Muslim 80 0.17% Jewish 70 0.15% Christian Orthodox 20 0.04% Hindu 20 0.04% Buddhist 15 0.03% Other religions 10 0.02%

Highways and numbered routes that run through the county, including external routes that start or finish at the county boundary:^[11]

• List of communities in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia
• List of communities in Nova Scotia
• Lunenburg English, the distinctive dialect of the area

• DesBrisay, Mather Byles (1895).History of the County of Lunenburg. Toronto: W. Briggs.LCCN 01022095.

• Photographs of historic monuments in Lunenburg County
• Lunenburg County Map

• Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia
• Counties of Nova Scotia

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata