It’s official: The Conception Bay Museum (Customs House) has won the National Trust for Canada’s Ecclesiastical Insurance Cornerstone Award, in the ‘Resilient Places‘ category!
The Ecclesiastical Insurance Cornerstone Awards bring national attention to exemplary projects and places that contribute to quality of life and sense of place, and illustrate the viability of heritage buildings and sites for traditional or new uses. The ‘Resilient Places‘ category recognizes historic places or landscapes that illustrate extraordinary resilience, significance, and benefit to a community over a sustained period of time, with a successful track record of 10 years or more.
From the Award notes:
Celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, the historic Customs House is a longstanding cultural hub with a strong link to the community.
Exactly one century after the Customs House was built in 1870, the Conception Bay Museum Association was founded to preserve local history and increase tourism potential in Conception Bay. One of the goals of the committee’s five-year tourism plan was to transform the Customs House into a museum to permanently showcase the local history. After five years of diligent work, the Conception Bay Museum opened its doors to the public in June of 1975.
Since then, the museum has strived to implement the vision of its early founders, particularly their community-centred approach, actively engaging the community through innovative programming, such as involving youth in the leadership structure and through volunteering.
“A great example of a resilient place – a community hub with over 50 years of history and an impressive link to the community.”
– Jury commentsKey Players: Conception Bay Museum Board of Directors
We’d like to thank the National Trust for Canada and the prize jury for selecting us for this prestigious award. Thank you to Ecclesiastical Insurance for sponsoring this prize.
Congratulations to our fellow winners in both categories!
Watch our award video:
Conception Bay Museum 