Sherbrooke Village — Attraction in Sherbrooke

If you have a biracial or black family, I suggest skipping it. We specifically picked Sherbrooke to take our god children to because it offered a dress up experience. You could pay an extra fee and dress up in period clothes for the day.

Despite calling in advance, despite having a staff member available, despite advertising the experience online and no appointments for the day, we were told that we could not dress up because only one staff member was available.

From the moment the dressing lady saw our biracial family the excuses began. She gave the kids the up and down look over, then looked at me and my husband with disgust. We were told to go back to the front office and make an appointment . So we went back and attempted to book an appointment.

One kind lady at the front desk said absolutely, let them pay and send then over for the experience. I was shown the apt book that showed zero appointments for the day.

Despite the one customer service rep saying it was not a problem, the other lady started with the excuses. She said she can’t book an appointment without talking to the lady in the dressing house first. She was calling all around but couldn’t reach anyone. She said she wouldn’t take our payment until she confirmed with the lady in the dressing house that she would accommodate us. Since the lady in the dressing house wasn’t answering the phone, we were told to follow her back to the dressing house and wait outside.

After some time, the front desk lady returned and said “we can’t help you. We only have 1 lady working here and she can’t dress four people.” Now keep in mind, our littlest godchild, did not want to dress up. So they were saying that 1 lady could not help dress a 6 year and two adults with a open schedule. They did not offer to only dress the child but outright refused. Then the front desk lady asked if we could return tomorrow. She already knew we drove from Ontario. Not to mention, the park is closed Tues and Wednesdays.

My heart was breaking because I have my biracial godchildren holding my hands throughout this whole experience. They are seeing the looks from the clearly racist staff members unwilling to allow us to buy the dress up experience. The oldest unfortunately appeared to already understand what was happening. She at 6 years old is already fully aware of racism and is stronger and more resilient than me. I eventually ended up hiding in the washroom in tears at what was happening.

We tried to shake it off and enjoy the other exhibits as we waited for my long time friend to arrive with her family. We drove almost 3 hour from Halifax to visit Sherbrooke Village.

While in the park, we visited the bakery where the family before us was offered and accepted some baked goods! We walked in with now 5 kids since my friends arrived and cookies were coming out of the oven. We asked if the kids could have a cookie & were told: “no, they were too hot”. At the end of our visit, we were approach by the manager who offered to dress all 4 of us now and give us a free $80 picture. She apologized but still claimed they didn’t have the capacity to dress us.

How can they dress 4 people for a photo in the same period clothes now, later in the day, when it’s busier, with the same one staff member - who refused to help us? I told her I believed her staff were racist and refused to help us because our family was biracial. I told her we were not interested in the free photo.The manager did not seem to care. She said sorry and “I hope you have a nice day.”

If you are thinking about visiting this establishment this was...

I have decided to rewrite my review. I again visited Sherbrooke Village today. It's been a little while and I thought I would up date and replace my last review. I have been here before with other friends. But this time the wife came with me, so she could experience the village. It was a nice day weather wise which made things even better. The staff were all wonderful. The cast played the roles well and made the experience, much more realistic. A down side is that a couple of the buildings were closed for lack of staff. Although we had one staff member open up and show us one of the closed buildings that I wanted to show the wife. This was above and beyond what I would expect. That's one of the reasons why I loved this place the first time. People care about this place and the folks who visit. That means a lot to me. We had to cut down the time we were spending at each building since we were running low on time. It's amazing how fast time can go when speaking with folks about interesting things. I brought the wife home a nice hand made wooden spoon crafted in the village, the last visit. That along with a rose water cream that she loved. Wouldn't you know that today, she bought two more types of wooden spoons and another large jar of the rose water cream. I guess I did good the first time. And I saved the best for last. We had lunch in the Tea Room. The ladies were wonderful in all aspects, and should be commended for playing the roles, while providing a wonderful lunch experience. The food was the best lunch I've had the whole time in the last week visiting the province. I had a simple lunch of a grilled cheese sandwich on whole grain bread, with a glass of home made lemonade. It was excellent for a guy enjoys the simple things.. I topped it off with a ice cream cookie sandwich. As I said, the best lunch, in a really long while. Thank you to the whole staff from the welcome center, to the building personal, and all supporting members, including the lady on the horse guiding the escaped donkey back to his home, for a truly great day, yet again. Once again, a highlight of...

It is well worth the drive to visit Sherbrooke Village and spend a few hours to a full day with family and friends! With over 34 business and community buildings to visit and view. Many walked about and building, very friendly costumed interpreters to talk about the late 1800 of the prosperous boom town, by timber for tall ships, gold mining, blacksmith, post office, printers, jailer, drug store, Dr. office, photo studio, farm animals and so many more. Don't miss the real rare origin working sawmill, powered by a beautiful outdoor wooden water wheel. We also enjoy a fresh garden salad, followed by lunch of fish and corn chowder with home made tea biscuits in the tea room. They had a good selection of homemade baked goods. Also, we learn they host many events throughout the season for everyone, like Sherbrooke Village Old Fashioned Christmas. So take time, to step back into time, of the biggest village museum in NS. It was a fun and great day visiting...