Lunenburg, Nova Scotia — This Canadian harbor town — its history, its buildings and its sea craft — as well as its hospitable, down-to-earth residents are the real thing.

In the days of Disney World, when modern tourist attractions are created, not an outgrowth of history, a trip to Lunenburg is something like a step back in time.

SCOTT FOUST/Special (ENLARGE)

Interpretive guide Bob Sweeny crafts a model at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Visitors can watch videos about sea creatures, listen to maritime tales and interact with interpreters who are mending nets, launching a model schooner and making knots.

SCOTT FOUST/Special (ENLARGE)

The side trawler Cape Sable, at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, represents the kind of motorized fishing vessel that replaced schooners.

SCOTT FOUST/Special (ENLARGE)

The Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic helps draw tourists to Lunenburg. The museum was founded in 1967 on board a schooner, the Theresa E. Connor, which is still available for tours. The museum later expanded into a former fish-processing plant and salt warehouse.

Visitors walk the streets of the old town, founded in 1753 and so well-conserved that it earned UNESCO World Heritage Site status. They step aboard the Bluenose II, a 44-year-old faithful replica of the revered Canadian icon whose image is imprinted on the back of the country's dime.

They tour the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, in an old fish-processing factory and salt warehouse. The museum is staffed by friendly, knowledgeable Nova Scotians, many of whom worked on the sea or whose family members still earn their living on it today. It's as real an experience as you are likely to encounter, hosted by descendants of people who have lived on the coast for more than 250 years.

The town's shipbuilding and fishing history, its colorful waterfront buildings and ships, seafood restaurants and shops make it an ideal place to explore life on the sea in Canada.

In its heyday, the Grand Banks fishing fleet included about 200 schooners, said Fisheries Museum curator Ralph Getson. Those schooners came from small towns like Lunenburg, whose population totals only 2,600.

"The sea will calm all the troubles in the world," said Getson, describing the Bluenose II's two-hour Lunenburg Bay and inner harbor tour. The trip is often hushed with visitors quieted by the water, the picturesque town and the sun. It is not narrated, though crew members stand ready to answer any questions. "The murmurings of the people [aboard], they are in awe, maybe. The ocean makes you want to stand and be still."

The original Bluenose became a proud part of Canada's heritage after it was launched in 1921 and spent a season at sea, returning home with salt-preserved fish. That fall after fishing season, it took part in a friendly competition with other Canadian and U.S. schooners in the International Fishermen's Cup Race. For the proud and brave seamen, it was a chance each year to celebrate their lifestyle and heritage.

After fishing successfully and repeatedly winning the cup, the Bluenose became a Canadian treasure. It paid visits to faraway ports and was Canada's ambassador to the Silver Jubilee celebration for King George V in England in 1935.

Times had changed, and modern diesel-powered ships took over the fishing industry. Efforts were made to save the ship in Lunenburg. Its captain, Angus Walters, ultimately purchased it for $7,000, but debt from updating it with diesel engines and the cost of upkeep were too much. The vessel was sold to the West Indies Trading Co., and instead of being used in the fishing trade, it hauled dynamite, coconuts, rum and other cargo around the Caribbean. Walters went on to a life ashore and opened a dairy in Lunenburg.

The Bluenose sank in 1946 after it hit a reef off Haiti.

"Newspapers called it a national disgrace that a vessel that meant so much to this country was lost on a foreign reef," Getson said.

The fishing, shipbuilding and farming life in Lunenburg continued. Then, in 1963, the Oland Brewery Co. decided a replica of the Bluenose should be built to help market its products. It was constructed at the same Lunenburg shipyard as the original, by some of the same shipbuilders who worked on the Bluenose schooner, Getson said.

In 1967, the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic was founded on board another schooner, the Theresa E. Connor, which is still available for tours.

Lunenburg's tourist industry was added to its staples of fishing, shipbuilding — now ship repair — and farming.

In keeping with its mission to present all aspects of living on the Atlantic shores, the museum established an aquarium in 1969 with six tanks. It has grown to 11 saltwater and three freshwater tanks showcasing native fish — cod, halibut, lumpfish, eels, lobster, freshwater trout, salmon and Atlantic whitefish. Children enjoy the touch tank.

In 1971, Bluenose II was sold to Nova Scotia for $1 by the company and is berthed beside the museum, which has expanded into a former fish-processing plant and salt warehouse, parts of which date to 1899. The museum also includes 12,000 square feet of wharf space, where the schooner Connor, the side trawler Cape Sable, a scallop-shucking house, and the captain's cabin and wheelhouse of the side trawler Cape North are on exhibit.

The 35,000-square-foot interactive museum features 14 exhibit areas. The 90,000 tourists who visit each year can watch more than a dozen videos on sea otters, beluga whales, octopuses and more in the Ice House Theatre, and interact with interpreters who are mending nets, launching a model schooner, splicing ropes and making knots. They can listen to tales from the sea about its creatures and fishing vessels.

"Interaction helps make it real for people," Getson said. "That offers memories to keep way beyond a souvenir."

The museum goes beyond that with artifacts from the original Bluenose — its trophies, clock, bell, sidelights and business papers, as well as a logbook from its trip to England in 1935.

The Walters family contributed a few trophies but had few artifacts to offer.

"Fishing captains in Lunenburg really didn't bring their work home with them," said Wayne Walters, his grandson.

The dangers of going to sea are brought home to museum visitors in an exhibit displaying the names of 693 seamen lost in the ocean, some collected from available crew lists but others from store receipts as seamen purchased mittens and other necessities and signed their names and ships' names.

The Fishermen's Memorial Room pays tribute with names inscribed on plaques by year. Some years, such as 1926 and 1927, before ship-to-shore radios were carried on board, bad weather claimed many lives. "There were so many last names the same, fathers and sons. It's a room for quiet reflection. That was the price," Getson said quietly. "It's a dangerous occupation."

At the end of the season every year, Lunenburg clergy participate in a public memorial service on the waterfront — complete with choirs and wreaths — if sailors and fishermen have been lost, and a thanksgiving service if not, for the town and its families. This year, the service will be held Aug. 19.