The Nova Scotia Highlanders Regimental Museum will soon relocate to a new home at 55 Victoria Street East, bringing improved accessibility, expanded exhibit space and new opportunities to share Cumberland County's rich military history with residents and visitors.
Museum Committee volunteers and the Nova Scotia Highlanders Community Council have been working behind the scenes for more than a year to prepare for the move, with an official opening currently planned for October 17, 2026.
The North Nova Scotia Highlanders Mural was dedicated on August 20, 2005. Proudly displayed on Town Hall, the mural is just a short distance from what will be the new location of the Nova Scotia Highlanders Regimental Museum at 55 Victoria Street East.
For Museum Committee Chair Justin McKay, the move is about much more than a change of address.
"This is a new beginning for the Nova Scotia Highlanders Regimental Museum," said McKay. "It's going to be bigger and better than it was before."
The new location will offer nearly 3,000 square feet of exhibit space – more than triple the size of the museum's previous home – while also providing ground-level, barrier-free access for visitors.
Accessibility was a key consideration in choosing the new space.
McKay recalled a visitor who travelled from Ontario hoping to visit the museum before he passed away, but was unable to access the previous second-floor location because there was no elevator.
"Now we're going to have ground-floor accessibility," McKay said. "Any and all visitors will be able to come in and experience the museum."
The downtown location was also chosen to make the museum more visible and accessible to residents and tourists alike.
"We specifically wanted to be downtown," said McKay. "There are a lot of tourists walking around in the summer, and the more visible the museum is, the more visitors we're going to have."
Located on Victoria Street East, the museum will also overlook Amherst's cenotaph, providing a meaningful connection to the community's place of remembrance and offering visitors a unique vantage point during commemorative events.
The expanded space will allow the museum to better showcase its extensive collection, much of which has been donated by former members of the Nova Scotia Highlanders and their families. The collection includes uniforms, medals, badges, documents, photographs and artifacts from the First and Second World Wars, as well as items connected to the regiment's service overseas.
While many pieces have been displayed over the years, McKay says the additional space will make it possible to rotate exhibits and reveal artifacts that have rarely – or never – been seen by the public.
"There's going to be stuff in there that even we'll say, 'I didn't know we had that,'" he said. "We'll finally have the room to spread everything out and rotate displays so visitors have something new to discover."
Plans for the new museum also include interactive interpretive exhibits, improved curation of the collection, a small gift shop and future programming such as guest speakers and historical presentations.
For McKay, preserving the collection is about ensuring future generations understand the sacrifices made by those who served.
"If we forget that history, we forget what happened before," he said. "People paid with their blood, their lives and their mental health for that history. It's an important part of Amherst's story."
With many younger Canadians now several generations removed from the Second World War, McKay believes the museum has an increasingly important role in helping people connect with local history and understand the contributions of the Nova Scotia Highlanders and the people of Cumberland County.
The museum's collection represents generations of military service from across Cumberland County and surrounding communities, preserving the stories of local men and women whose service helped shape Canada's history.
As work continues to prepare the new space at 55 Victoria Street East, volunteers are also exploring fundraising opportunities and recruiting community support to help bring the museum's vision to life.
Additional details about the museum's official opening and public celebrations will be announced as they become available.
