Cumberland Parish was coextensive with Lunenburg County from its inception in 1745, and Mr. Bell's history of the parish and transcription of its oldest vestry book are of the first importance. The vestry book itself is replete with records of birth, baptism, marriage, and death, as well as an abundance of land transactions. To this, Mr. Bell has added extensive genealogical sketches of families who furnished vestrymen to Cumberland Parish.

Lunenburg is one of Nova Scotia's most famous and picturesque towns. With its steep streets leading up from the harbour, lined with bright, distinctive heritage buildings built during its fishing and shipbuilding heyday, the town has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In this full-colour book, historian and heritage expert Brian Cuthbertson takes his readers on a tour of the old town, examining the charm of its landmark buildings such as the Lunenburg Academy, and the eclectic blend of old and new on its iconic waterfront. Cuthbertson outlines the town's history, from its founding in 1753 by a group of German Lutherans and French-speaking Calvinists, chiefly farmers and tradesmen. He follows the course of economic growth in the fisheries, including the famous Grand Banks fishery and the building of the fastest, most famous and beautiful working schooner of them all, Bluenose. He tracks the town's enduring traditions and continuing prosperity today. Illustrated with dozens of full-colour photographs and historical visuals, Lunenburg: Then and Now is an exciting tour of one of Canada's most distinctive and fascinating towns.

Recounts the events surrounding the dramatic post-Civil War trial of a young African American sawmill hand who was accused of ax murdering a white woman on her Virginia farmyard and who implicated three other women in the crime.