Sherbrooke Village Court House

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Sherbrooke Court House was built in 1858 on land purchased from the John and Samuel Cumminger, who owned Cumminger Brothers’ General Store. The courthouse was designed in the Greek Revival style with large fluted columns at the front, much like many other courthouses erected in the Maritimes in the nineteenth century, including the one in Antigonish, now a National Historic Site of Canada. 

In addition to serving as a court house, the Temperance Society held their meetings in the building before they erected their own hall in 1892. The Sherbrooke Court House remained much the same until 1950, when a vault was added on the south side. In 1967, the building was completely restored by the Municipality of St. Mary’s for Canada’s centennial.

In the 1980s, the vault was enlarged and became home to the registry of Deeds. Before this, the Registry’s records were kept at the home of the Registrar, Gladys Pye Hingley. The Registry remained in the Court House until the early 1990s, when they moved to Guysborough.

In 2000, the Sherbrooke Court House stopped being used for regular court sessions, a public meeting place, and polling station at election time. In 2001, the Municipality turned the building over to the Sherbrooke Restoration Commission. As part of the Court House’s restoration to its nineteenth-century appearance, a chandelier was purchased from an estate in Halifax and long benches were brought over from Pier 21 at the Halifax Shipyard.

Today the Sherbrooke Village Court Souse is home to the Courthouse Concert Series hosted weekly from July to September.